Three Months Later
by vainhopes
Summary: A sequel to Remedial Studies in 360-Degree Revolutions. Set up as an AU Season 5, with each chapter representing an episode, and featuring the antics of the entire Greendale Seven, but with a strong Jeff/Annie backbone.
1. Introduction to Temporal Manipulation

Pairing: Jeff/Annie (Though the entire Greendale Seven shows up throughout the story, and Jeff and/or Annie may be 'paired' with any of the others for story (not romantic) purposes, the main backbone of the story is with Jeff/Annie. There may be other ships that appear...I'm as of yet unsure, or even which would show up if they do.  
Spoilers: Through the finale of Season 4, and the events of my last story, Remedial Studies in 360-Degree Revolutions  
Word Count: 11,074  
Rating: PG-13 (language)  
Disclaimer: If I owned Community, you'd all probably absolutely hate it.  
Author's Notes: I take liberties with character's motivations and thoughts...but that's kind of the name of the game if you're going to write fan fiction. I try as hard as I can to stay within the limits of the developed character though. Also...this is incredibly long. I'm aware of this. I'm writing this as an AU 5th Season, with each chapter serving as an 'episode.' Basically...I'm writing the sort of thing that I want to read, which is a bit of a conceit. If ficlets are more your thing, you will hate this. Additionally, if awkwardly written fan fiction is not your thing, you will also hate this. Extended A/N is after the story itself.

Also...I'm aware that the timeline is a little funky, thanks to Season 4. I decided between this, and my last story to cut all the BS out, and just say that Jeff's graduation was at the end of Spring Semester of last year (and thus, just prior to summer...and hardly considered early) but everyone thought of it as 'early' due to the troubles with Chang messing up their schedule in S3. This AU Season 5 takes place in what amounts to the group's fifth year together.

* * *

**Prologue**

At the end of spring semester of 2013, Jeff Winger graduated from Greendale Community College, thus fulfilling the requirements the Colorado state bar had set for his readmission to the bar, and the reinstatement of his ability to practice law. Finally facing having to move on from the bubble of safety he had created in the surrogate family of his study group, he prepared to become a lawyer again. Although he knew he would see his friends regularly, and that he wasn't losing them, the idea of not seeing them on a daily basis terrified him. It brought back bad memories of their temporary expulsion from Greendale, as well as the person he used to be, and nearly made him avoid graduating altogether.

Although Jeff ended up graduating as he was supposed to (though proceeded briefly by Pierce Hawthorne,) he still feared the change in the group dynamic, and although he wasn't afraid of losing his friends, Jeff had realized that the oft-criticized (even by himself) flirtation and subtextual romance between himself and Annie Edison had built within his heart to levels of love that he hadn't experienced previously. Jeff found he feared the loss of the opportunity to both make his feelings known to Annie, as well as to try to set right events where he had once wronged Annie in their relationship. Abed was later to refer to it as "an awesome homage to Quantum Leap," which always made Jeff shake his head and wonder if his friend would ever be a little less meta.

The night of his graduation day, Jeff took Annie on a whirlwind tour of campus, where over the course of several hours, they both apologized, kissed (for the first time in years,) fought (like they did on a regular basis,) ran from an unidentified creature in terror (which in retrospect, both found surprisingly unsurprising), and declared their love for each other (which both found unsurprisingly surprising.) The next morning, Annie answered Jeff's door to find Dean Pelton there, and Jeff left her alone to spend a "half day at the mall with Craig" in order to pay him back for getting access to Greendale. While alone in Jeff's apartment (alone except for his cat, Gizmo...three of whose siblings resided in her apartment, Casa Trobed,) Annie discovered Jeff had left her an unexpected, and uncharacteristic gift of a key to his apartment, with the instructions that she was welcome there anytime. He had basically asked her to move in. Annie was shocked by the sudden change in her relationship with the man she'd grown to love, and spent a fair amount of time that morning considering the changes in her life over just the past 24 hours, as well as checking Craig Pelton's Twitter feed to see how Jeff's torture was going, and got ready to enjoy her summer with Jeff.

**Three Months Later: The First Day of Classes at Greendale Community College, Fall Semester 2013**

For most of the past summer, Annie Edison had been enjoying learning how to sleep in, and how to generally start her day as lazy as she could, with lessons happily provided by, and her performance happily critiqued by Jeff Winger. She figured she ended up spending a little over half her nights there, and waking up alongside him, with no alarms to tell her it was time to get up and get ready for class, and no apocalyptic noises telling her that her roommates were in the middle of risking their security deposit, she was learning how truly wonderful it was to be able to just relax on occasion.

Jeff being there to personally tutor her in the fine art of extraordinary relaxation wasn't so bad either, she had to admit to herself…

For the past three weeks, however, she'd had to relearn how to wake up alone. She absolutely hated it, but it had been a decision made together with Jeff, and they had decided it was the best thing for both of them. She desperately missed waking up with his arm around her, or clinging to him, and half wished that things had turned out differently.

Still, as she applied some of what she'd learned, and stretched luxuriously in a bed she had entirely to herself, she realized that there were some minor benefits to waking up alone. Especially since Jeff tended to use very, very nice bedding. She almost felt guilty at enjoying the ability to sprawl anywhere in the entire bed.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty…what are you doing up so early?"

Annie's eyes slowly opened and a smile crept onto her features as she eased herself from her sprawl into a reclined position, and Jeff walked from the bedroom door to her side of the bed, where he sat himself on the edge.

"What are you still doing here?" Annie had grown used to Jeff already being gone when she got up for the day. At first it was jarring, but by now, it was just part of the routine, whether she liked it or not. She still felt a bit strange to have made herself so at home at an apartment that technically, wasn't hers, but Jeff had made it perfectly clear that he enjoyed having her there. As Annie thought about it, it wasn't a struggle for her to realize that she enjoyed being there too.

"I never leave by now…you're just up earlier than normal. I'm guessing I taught you well in the fine art of relaxation this summer. Little nervous about the first day of classes though?"

"No, just excited. Soon the rest of us are going to be joining you in the realm of the legitimate. And yes, you were an excellent teacher, when it came to relaxation…as well as other things." Annie used the opportunity to drag Jeff down for a kiss, relishing the chance for some closeness. Lately, she'd barely stirred when he'd leave for work, even though he'd always say goodbye, and drop a kiss on her forehead.

Jeff pulled away before too long. "Hey…you know what happens when we go at that too long. I've got a client meeting this morning, and this suit? No wrinkles. I look amazing, and I need to stay looking amazing."

Annie grinned up at her boyfriend. "You always look amazing, even after getting kicked in the face. The only time I can remember you didn't was like, the monkey gas thing…you looked pretty scary then."

"Don't remind me about that time. That wasn't my best day." Jeff grimaced, as he headed towards the bedroom door on his way out of the apartment.

"No, but you learned your lesson!" Annie teased "See you tonight?"

Jeff called back from the living room, "Yeah, I'll see you later today!" Annie just barely managed to get out a "Love you!" before the door closed, muting any reply Jeff may have made.

With one last stretch, Annie decided it was time to get up, and get ready for her first day of the semester.

The morning classes had gone uneventfully. Annie was consistently happier and happier with her choice to switch majors into Forensics, and now that she was getting deeper into the more interesting, higher-level classes, she was really starting to learn about topics that were of interest to her. It was a bit jarring that there literally wasn't anyone she knew in any of her classes, and Astronomy with the (depleted) study group wasn't until later in the day, but now that she had really finished most of her general education courses, and gotten into Forensics after most of the cliques had already established themselves, it was a little difficult to find her way in. She didn't mind too much, because she was more than capable of studying on her own, and she had her study group 'family' to look forward to, but she just never had to go through a first day for so long without seeing anyone.

Finally, the time that everyone had arranged to have free for study group, scheduled prior to the Astronomy class itself, arrived. Annie made her way to Study Room F, and prepared to greet everyone. As usual it went off like long-lost friends seeing each other for the first time in years, even though they'd gathered at Pierce's less than a week previously for a barbecue.

Since he had graduated, Pierce had suddenly shown a high level of interest in hosting activities at his mansion. Annie suspected he feared he'd lose touch with everyone if he didn't. In part to quell the nervousness she worried he felt over being cut off from the group, as well as to help reinforce the idea of Jeff and herself as a couple in the eyes of everyone, they had hosted a few evenings at his apartment as well, and Annie had made sure to play hostess, not guest.

The remaining five members of the study group seated themselves in their normal spots, and pointedly tried to ignore the lopsided feel of the table. Pierce missing next to Troy had a definite effect, but even more pronounced was Jeff's absence, leaving an entire side of the table empty. Annie decided to take decisive action.

"Ok. Hopefully this isn't too jarring for anyone…but it's obvious that the sudden change in our group makeup is proving to be a distraction. So, I'm going to take drastic action to try to even things out a bit." With that, Annie slid her books and study materials across the table, stood and picked up her bag, decidedly walking over to Jeff's old spot, and sitting down.

She took a look around the table, surveying the group's expressions. Britta raised a cautious eyebrow at her, as if uncertain as to what to make of this new development. Troy looked completely unaware of any change, and Annie half expected him to not realize that she had moved until an hour or so later. Abed's expression was, as usual, inscrutable, and Shirley looked like she wasn't sure if she should be offended or not by the change. Annie hoped she didn't feel like she had moved in order to get away from her, but she couldn't worry that right now. She felt a responsibility to rein the group in, and keep things moving.

"Ok, well, while we're not on anything else…should we discuss the possibility of new group members to study Astronomy?"

The entire study group had focused on her since she made the abrupt shift across the table. Now, every last eye suddenly slid off of her, and into their own conversations. Troy and Abed turned to each other and got into an animated discussion about…something, she wasn't sure what. Shirley and Britta got talking across the table about what they had done the previous weekend.

Annie knew what they were doing…this was a filibuster.

"You guys! This is something we seriously need to discuss! We've gotten so close over the past few years that inviting someone else in, even if they just study with us for a semester, is a serious decision."

"I'd think you guys would have realized by now that inviting new people into the group is just plain dumb. It's not like we died." A voice came from behind Annie that she didn't expect to hear in this room again, but then it was followed by a second voice that really threw Annie for a loop.

"It's not only that, Pierce, but it seems like someone has decided they like my chair better than her own. I'm not sure what to make of this…"

Like one, four voices ring out. Annie is the only one who doesn't shout the names along with the rest of the group. "Pierce! Jeff!"

Annie slowly turns her head around as if in a daze. She's positive she's imagining things, but as she turns around…the sight of her boyfriend, wearing the same suit and tie she saw him in when he left, and the older man who'd been a cross between a surrogate father and a child to babysit, depending on how mature he was feeling that day, were both standing there. Jeff looked down at her with a patented crooked Winger grin. She only lasted a couple of seconds before rushing into him, crashing with both arms around him for a hug.

"Ok, ok, we get it…you're happy to see your man-toy. Is he the only one you're happy to see?" Pierce said, with clear pique in his voice, even though Annie thought it was forced. Oddly enough, as much as he complained about Jeff, and his not being good enough for her, Pierce had seemed strangely comfortable once they were officially together. Annie's theory, with some input by Jeff as to the relationship between Pierce and himself, was that that the older man saw Jeff as a younger version of himself…and maybe the idea of Jeff getting the happiness Pierce never managed to find was satisfying, on some weird level.

"Of course not, don't be silly." Annie said as she detached from Jeff, and threw a bear hug on Pierce. She let go of him, and he made his way around to his typical seat at the table. Annie turned towards the table as well, and realized that Jeff's old seat, the one she had taken over, was still open. Jeff had seated himself next to Shirley, where Annie herself had sat for years, an open challenge to her in his eyes.

"Sooo, what are you two graduates doing here, anyway?" Britta breaks the awkward silence caused by Annie and Jeff's staredown, while Annie sits in her new seat.

"It's good for me to get out and try to expand my mind…that's what Doc Potterywood did, remember? Besides, they don't have me meeting with that many clients yet, just drafting briefs, doing discovery, etc. So, if I go in early, and then spend little time at night getting in some billable hours…I have a little time during the day to come take Astronomy with you guys."

Suddenly Annie understands why Jeff had started going into work earlier, and leaving her alone in bed in the mornings. It wasn't just because they wanted him to…he was trying to make time to come take this one last class with them. She had distinctly mixed emotions, since she was happy he wanted to be there with them, but wasn't thrilled he had to make her wake up alone to do so.

"Wait…when are you going to be doing work at night?" Annie didn't like the idea of his work interfering with the time she got with him. Selfish as it may be…she'd finally gotten Jeff, which made her slightly possessive.

"When you're studying." Jeff said with zero hesitation.

"But then when will you study?"

"Annie…I graduated. I don't care about the grade. I could fail, for all I care."

With that, Annie blanched, and made a scandalized noise. Her mouth worked up and down, but no words issued forth.

"Jeff! Say something…you're sending Annie into a scholastic BSOD!" Abed, of course, was always on hand to dispense completely incomprehensible advice, which Pierce then had to nose into. "Bee Ess…Ay-bed, what are you going on about?"

"BSOD. Blue Screen of Death…like old computers used to do when they'd crash. Like, really crash. You've got to find a way to reboot her."

Jeff felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his head as he boggled at Abed. "Abed…she isn't a computer. We can't just reboot her. He stood and walked over to Annie, putting his hands on her upper arms, and gently rubbing them. "Now, Annie…I'll do my best not to fail, but you've got to snap out of this, or I'm going to have to take drastic action, and hide every copy of your study schedule and every purple pen that you've stashed around my apartment…and yes, I know you've been creating secret stashes of study materials in my place, like a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter."

Jeff's threat made Annie break out of her catatonia, only to whirl on him with angry eyes. She opens her mouth to speak, but the words never get a chance to come out.

"Dean Morning, everyone!" Jeff cocked his head at the ever-worsening dean puns that Pelton continually persists in, perhaps noticing that they have only gotten worse over the break, but doesn't say anything. "Pierce? Jeffrey?! What are you two doing here?"

"We go to school here, dummy." Pierce's reply is as eloquent as everyone has come to expect from him, and leaves the Dean confused.

"But you two graduated?"

Now it was Jeff's turn to throw a monkey wrench into the cogs of the Dean's already shaky thought process. "Well, clearly you must be confused, Dean, because we're here for class. Maybe it's time travel?" Jeff suggests sardonically, but his tone falls on deaf ears, as the Dean reacts as if he were punched in the gut.

"The time desk works!" he hisses in a hushed voice. The study group members just look around the table, wondering how to handle this without breaking the Dean's already fragile psyche. Abed jumps in, but no one expects the advice that he gives the school administrator.

"Yes, Dean…the time desk works. You've come back prior to Jeff and Pierce graduating, but you know what that means, right?"

"I do?" The Dean is clueless, which comes as a shock to no one.

"You need to make sure your past self doesn't see you, or you could cause serious damage to the space time continuum!" Abed intones dramatically, resulting in the Dean blanching. "Oh my God! What would happen then, Abed?"

"Everything stops. That's it. No more existence."

Pelton looks up at Abed with horror, over at Jeff, then back up at Abed. "Everything?" He subtly indicates to Abed with a motion of his eyes that he's asking if even Jeff would stop existing, as if he somehow had difficulty comprehending Jeff being bound by something as mundane as the laws of physics and the universe. Abed just nods down at him sincerely. "Yes…everything. You'll have to go someplace you know your past self won't find you, or else!"

The Dean's eyes grow wide as platters, and he lets off a sound that Jeff could later only describe as 'half-shriek/half-whimper' as he ran off, hands flailing about in the air.

Abed turned back to the group, expression blank as always. "That ought to keep him out of our hair for awhile."

Everyone sits down, except for Jeff, who is still standing, starting at Abed in awe. He hadn't moved from the spot at Annie's side, where she was sitting in his old chair during the entire ordeal. She hisses up at him "Jeff, you can go sit down now…"

He doesn't. He stands, and a big stupid grin grows on his face. In a hushed voice, he addresses his impassive friend.

"Abed…you are…the wind beneath my wings."

Everyone around the table starts snickering in laughter at the level of Jeff's relief with Abed's successful banishing of the Dean, except Abed, who just shoots his signature finger guns at Jeff, who finally moves back to Annie's old spot by Shirley and sits down. Once he's settled in, Annie takes the lead again. It's nothing unusual…she always was one of the major influences pushing them to keep focused. It's just that now she's sitting in the spot that's always been thought of as "the leader's seat." Something about her sitting there seemed off, somehow. The balance that had always been present previously had been disrupted.

"Ok, should we start getting ready for Astronomy this afternoon?"

"Annie…we've got more important problems to solve. Astronomy isn't for a couple of hours. This was just our traditional 'seeing our friends at the beginning of the semester, even though we have nothing to study, and making sure everyone else on campus gets the hint that this room is ours' meeting. Right now, we've got to make sure the Dean stays in hiding. That means that we've got to make him think he'll run into his 'past self' at any moment." Annie made a scandalized noise at Abed's suggestion that anything was more important than class, but everyone else nodded at the idea of keeping the Dean locked away.

"I'll take point on that particular mission. I've got something in mind. Troy, I'm going to need your help for some of it." But when Abed looked over at his best friend, he sadly shook his head.

"Sorry man…I've got to be at the A/C school in 15 minutes to talk to them about policies and such. I'm thinking I might issue a decree ordering that everyone brings me cupcakes on a rotating basis."

Abed looked troubled by this, as if he couldn't conceive of engaging in hijinks without his best friend, he started looking back and forth across the table rapidly, scanning the other members of the group. As the speed of his head-turning increased, Jeff jumped in before it reached a point where they would have to worry about Abed snapping his own neck through the rapid changes in velocity, as physically impossible as that seemed, their expressionless friend had been known for stranger things.

"I've got your back for this one, Abed, if that'll work for you?"

Abed relaxed quickly and visibly. Everyone knew he didn't do well with change, but this was familiar territory.

"Cool, it'll be like old times. Britta…I'm going to need you and Annie to standby to be our B team."

Britta just nods at Abed as if she understood what was going on, but the expression on her face clearly says otherwise. Fortunately, this was one time that Abed's self-proclaimed lack of skill in reading facial expressions paid off for the group, who didn't want to listen to a lecture on how to properly carry out an 'A' and 'B' plot in a caper story. Pierce and Shirley seemed to be making subtle gestures and mouthing words to each other that an onlooker might have caught 'sandwich shop,' and 'hide out' from. For these two to plan to hide out together away from everyone else spoke volumes about how much they wanted to avoid getting involved in whatever may come out of all of this 'nonsense,' as Shirley delicately stated in a mutter.

"C'mon Jeff, we've got to move quick, or else the Dean might wise up." Abed turned to Britta, "Remember, keep your phone on you at all times, and answer it when I call, and you and Annie stick together, no matter what."

With that, Abed marched out of the room, and Jeff followed, stopping only briefly at the door to turn and look back at the rest of his friends and shrug.

Abed set a brisk pace as he headed with a purpose down the halls, but Jeff's long stride meant he had little difficulty keeping up. They finally arrived at a door Jeff was entirely unfamiliar with. It was labeled 'Security,' which threw up red flags to Jeff, for obvious, Chang-related reasons. He was about to bring this point up to Abed, when he was surprised further by Abed digging a key out of his pocket and unlocking the door, throwing it wide for their entry.

The duo stepped into the small room, and Abed tossed back a directive to him to 'keep a lookout' while he seated himself at the desk, which contained a couple of monitors and a handful of controls. He pulled out his laptop, and plugged a USB cable from the security system into it. He opened up a program that Jeff wasn't familiar with, but appeared to be streaming security camera feeds at a rapid pace, entered a couple of commands, and turned back to Jeff while a timer ran on the screen.

Now that Abed appeared to be free, at least for the moment, Jeff felt more comfortable engaging him with some questions.

"Abed, who exactly am I keeping a lookout for? Greendale hasn't had a security force since Chang was ousted."

"Oh, nobody. We aren't going to get caught in here. Besides, I got the key from the Dean. He knows I come in here for footage all the time."

Jeff was perplexed. "Then why did you tell me to keep a lookout?!"

Abed shrugged, "Seemed to fit well with the cloak and dagger, secret agent type stuff we're doing right now. Besides, it's what I always tell Troy to do…he just already knows he doesn't really have to. Don't tell anyone that though, it's one of the ways we've worked out to escape the group when we want to go goof off and do our own thing."

Jeff just shook his head…first day back was already turning out to be a totally Greendale experience. "So…why did you call out Annie and Britta for the 'B team,' or was that just more stuff that 'fit well?'"

Abed shook his head at this question "No, they actually were both needed. Annie is compulsively prepared to study, and Britta uses a Totorola."

"What?!" Jeff boggled at this completely bizarre answer.

"Relax Jeff, all will become clear in time."

"Whatever, Abed." Jeff looked over the screen of Abed's laptop, and from what he could see, streaming at several times normal speed was a steady flow of the security camera feed from the Dean's office. Abed entered a few commands, then turned back to Jeff.

"So, how are things with Annie?"

Jeff stiffened. This wasn't a conversation he'd normally be thrilled to have under any circumstances. In this instance…he loved Abed without reservation, but he also knew how his friend's overly analytical nature and/or love of pop culture could lead to his life taking sudden, unexpected, and often undesired turns that Abed orchestrated to make things align with an homage or tribute that he had decided he wanted to do. He didn't like the idea of something involving his relationship being a target of opportunity.

"They're fine, Abed. Things are great. Annie and I are very happy."

"Are they? She didn't appear to expect that you were coming back to school here when you and Pierce showed up, and she spent the night at your place last night, which suggests that she was in the dark, and you deceived her as to your schedule for the day."

"It was supposed to be a fun surprise. We thought you'd all enjoy it. I'm sorry, next time I'll make sure we sync up our Google calendars, ok?"

"Don't get upset, Jeff. I'm just saying…something seems off between you. For example, she spends more than half of her nights sleeping at your apartment, but she hasn't simply moved in yet. Why?"

Jeff buried his face in his hands. "Hasn't she? It sure feels like she does, with the amount of her stuff that's made it to my place. Hell, even her cat has come over. Now I have two of the things running around. At least they get along."

Abed nodded. "True, Orson and Troy seemed to miss her at first, but she never quite got along with them that well."

Like Jeff, upon receiving the gift of a kitten from the Dean, each of the study group members had promptly renamed their new pets. Abed had named his after a favorite actor/director…which shocked no one. Reversing Jeff's action when he renamed 'Jeffrey' to 'Gizmo,' Troy had bestowed his own name on his cat, which also shocked no one. As he had said at the time "All my pets growing up were named Troy, why would I change the pattern now?" Abed's cat had promptly become the most roly-poly out of the litter, while Troy's…Troy became rambunctious and to any casual observer, appeared slightly denser than the rest of his littermates, but someone who watched him long enough would see a depth of cunning that usually went unnoticed. Annie's cat Chloe, prim, graceful, and fastidious, even to a cat's standards, didn't often join in on their antics and cavorting around the apartment, and on the rare occasion she did, she stopped long before the two boys did.

"Yeah, Gizmo's pretty lazy, so he doesn't bug Chloe nearly as much as your two hairballs seemed to."

"So, Jeff…why is Annie still one of our roommates? We love her, but we kinda figured she'd have moved in with you already, and we're a little worried about what it says about your relationship."

Jeff was slightly taken aback by this. "Abed! Our relationship is going great, thank you…the fact that she still technically has a room with you doesn't mean anything. Like you said, she spends more than half her nights over at my place, and trust me…she's made herself at home. I think that you-"

"Let me stop you right there, Jeff. We'll come back to this. First, there's a call I have to make." With that, Abed turned back to his computer, where it had apparently finished whatever task Abed had it performing. Jeff watched as he quickly addressed and composed an email to someone, attached a file, and sent it, before pulling out his cell phone.

"Watch the monitor…I've wanted to do this for a long time." With that, Abed switched security camera feeds until he reached the one covering the study room, with the image pointed directly at the study table. Britta and Annie were sitting across from each other, engaged in an animated conversation. Abed thumbed a couple of buttons on his phone, and apparently set it to speaker, since Jeff could hear it ringing loud and clear. On the screen, he saw Britta reach for her phone and raise it to her ear.

"Hey Abed!"

"Good morning, Ms. Perry. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, involves crawling through the duct work using the access in the study room to reach the vent above Dean Pelton's desk. From there, you will be lowering Annie's digital recorder, after starting a looped playback of the file that has been emailed to her, which she needs to upload to the device immediately. As always, should any member of your team be caught or killed, Jeff and I will disavow all knowledge of your actions."

"What?! No, wait, Abed! I don't choose to accept this…whatever the hell it is!" Britta sounded panicked, and Abed frowned at the phone in his hands, as if he hadn't anticipated the possibility that she may not want this 'mission.' Seemingly unsure of any other path, he proceeded forward with what was left of his prepared speech.

"This message will self-destruct in five seconds."

"WHAT?!"

Jeff's gaze flipped back and forth between Abed beginning to quietly count down from five and the monitor showing the two women, now appearing slightly disturbed by the recent call. He wondered what would happen when Abed reached 'one.' He heard Britta's confused shouting coming out of the phone, and could hear Annie in the background asking what was going on, and what was this email she had just received?

He didn't need to. No sooner was the whispered 'three' out of his mouth when they heard Britta yelp, and the connection suddenly died. On the screen, they saw what looked like small flames bursting out of Britta's hand before she dropped her phone on the floor, and began stomping on it. After a couple of stomps, she turned to face the security camera in the study room, and angrily shouted something that Jeff couldn't make out by reading her lips and expression.

"Abed…did you just blow up Britta's phone somehow?"

"Like I said, Jeff…Britta uses a Totorola. And if she hadn't stopped me…it would have happened right on time, instead of two seconds early. It was an amateur move, but I guess I should have seen it coming. Plus, she totally broke the fourth wall. I didn't think she'd guess we were in here." Abed shook his head in dismay at Britta's performance.

As Jeff mentally put the pieces together, he couldn't help but to start chuckling at his friend's ingenuity. "Abed…I'm not normally a fan of the homage thing, but this one was one of your better ones." He said, patting his slender compatriot on the shoulder as he watched Britta circle the table to look over Annie's shoulder at the email Abed had sent her, which would give further instructions on the mission she was supposed to perform.

Without looking up, Abed started speaking again. "Do you think they've been talking about you?"

"Of course they have been, Abed. Britta and I used to have…whatever we had, and Annie and I have been dating for three months now. Do you really think they could resist comparing notes?"

* * *

Study Room F

"What are you knitting now, Britta?"

"Going to tease me for my hobby, Annie? You guys give me enough crap for it as it is."

Annie scrunched her face up as she frowned at Britta. Always on the defensive.

"No, not at all. I'm just curious about what it is. It's not another suit to make your cat look fancy or anything, is it?"

"No! It's for protection…"

Annie was more than a little confused by this statement. She'd never work up the nerve to ask, but was Britta making some form of kitty condom or something? Instead, she just raised her eyebrows in a clear question.

"Well…some of my older cats pick on Gertrude…so, I'm making her an extra thick sweater type thing to act as a layer of protection."

"Britta, isn't Gertrude your only cat that has all of her body parts still? I mean, when you got her from the Dean, she had both eyes and all her legs, so unless you amputated one to make her fit in or something…"

Britta looked shocked that Annie would even suggest such a thing. "Annie! That's horrible! No, she's still on one piece."

Annie felt herself getting more and more lost. "Admittedly, most of us have cat experiences that vary wildly from yours, but I'd think a cat with both eyes and all four legs would have a pretty distinct advantage in fighting and escaping the rest of your herd."

Britta stuck her chin out in defiance as she responded. "She's still small and kind of timid, but she's toughening up. I just want to make sure that as she becomes an adult, she doesn't lose a limb to an infected bite or something. That way, she'll eventually be the toughest of them all."

"Infected bite? Britta, you really have to get your cats into the vet to make sure none of them have anything dangerous if you really have to worry about that. And I also think if you're going to insist on renaming your cat from the Dean 'Gertrude,' you should call her 'Trudy.' It's way prettier." Annie ended her caution to her friend on a note that left no doubt that she didn't care for the name Britta had chosen for her newest member of her feline clan.

"Ugh, no. I told you, I named her after Gertrude Stein, not the character on Mad Men that Jeff drools over." Britta scoffed, but it turned into a smirk as she saw Annie narrow her eyes slightly at the mention of Jeff looking at another woman, even a fictional one. Annie looked like she was going to respond, but before she could, Britta broke back in with a sudden realization.

"Crap! Jeff and Abed! Have you heard anything from them about what this big mission they told us we had to stay here for was all about?"

Annie shook her head in the negative. "Actually, I forgot all about them…"

Britta cringed slightly. "Me too."

Just then, Britta's phone rang. She and Annie looked at each other with relief. Abed had spooky levels of accurate timing sometimes.

"Hey Abed!"

Annie couldn't hear anything Abed said on the other end of the line, just saw Britta's face becoming more confused, at the same time she saw an email from Abed with an attached file spool into her inbox.

"What?! No, wait, Abed! I don't choose to accept this…whatever the hell it is!" Britta's voice was starting to sound panicky, and then it increased to a full on yelp. "WHAT?!"

"Britta, while you're on the phone with Abed, can you ask him what this email is all about? It's got instructions…but they're wei-" Annie's sentence never got finished as the cell phone in Britta's hands burst into flame. She yelled, and dropped it on the floor, rising from her chair to stomp out the fire. After she was sure the flames were out, she turned towards the security camera mounted in the corner of the room, and shouted at it. "That wasn't five seconds!"

"Who are you shouting at, Britta?"

"Your pointy-faced boyfriend and our socially awkward mastermind. They've gone all Mission: Impossible on us, and I'm betting they're watching us from the room that controls the security cameras."

Annie gave her laptop a tight little nod, trying to avoid looking at Britta, and potentially draw her anger. "That'd explain this email. I'm uploading the file to my digital recorder now, and I'm supposed to tell you that once you start it playing, it's got 45 seconds of dead air before any sounds start. That way, you don't panic and waste time if you don't immediately hear anything once you start the loop."

Britta looked at Annie with a hint of rage crossing her features as she circled behind the younger woman to try to read the email for herself. "Annie, what on earth is going on here?" Annie just raised her hands in mock surrender. "You're on your own…I'm just following the instructions Abed emailed to me." Annie pulled the recorder loose from the USB cable connecting it to her laptop, and handed it to Britta, quickly demonstrating how to start a looped playback. Britta snipped a long piece of yarn off of the skein she was knitting from, and stuffed it into her pocket along with the recorder. She crossed to the vent she'd seen so many people use to enter the ductwork over the years, never guessing she'd end up as one of them, and opened it, before turning to Annie.

"When I get out of here…I'm going to make sure that Abed and Jeff both pay dearly for this. Let them know that if you see them or talk to them again before I get out of there."

With that, Britta disappeared into the vent, grumbling the whole way.

* * *

Greendale Security Room

Once they saw Britta enter the ductwork, Abed shifted the view over to one showing Dean Pelton's office. It wasn't the best view for seeing the vent, but they'd get a clear picture of when the recorder made it onto the desk. After what seemed like ages, they finally saw the small device dangling above the administrator's desk, and reach a resting spot.

"Awesome, Abed…she did it. Now, what exactly is that going to do?"

Abed turned around in his chair to face Jeff. "Simple. I grabbed a bunch of audio of the Dean doing various business in his office, and spliced it together. He doesn't really do much of use, so as long as I cut out anything that involved someone else, like a meeting in his office or something, it was all generic enough that he shouldn't recognize that it's all stuff that he's said within the last week or so. This way, he thinks his past self is in his office, and he won't leave his closet."

"He's hiding in his closet?" Jeff asked, a note of astonishment in his voice. Abed just nodded. "Thank God Pierce isn't here…there's a certain poetic quality to his choice of hiding places, but Pierce wouldn't be able to leave it alone."

Abed just looked at him impassively for a moment before starting an entirely new conversation, completely ignoring the open comment Jeff had made.

"You can head on back now. I just want to review the recent footage to see if there's been anything good. We've got a little time before our first class."

Jeff just folded his arms and leaned back against the desk. "Not so fast, Abed. Let's talk turkey first."

"Turkey?"

"Yeah…your security cameras cover pretty much every room on campus?"

"I don't like what you're driving at, Jeff. I kept cameras out of the locker rooms for ethical reasons, so I don't have any footage stockpiled from the girls locker room to share with you." Abed obviously thought Jeff just wanted to get a free peep show, and thankfully, didn't have anything to offer him there, but the older man just shook his head.

"That isn't what I want, Abed. You want to keep your and Troy's little 'come down to the security room to watch footage, and Troy watches the door for no real reason' game quiet, don't you? I don't get why, but you seemed to want me to zip my lips about it."

Abed just looked at Jeff with wide eyes, "If Shirley thinks we're going to go goof off, she tries to guilt us into volunteering at the sandwich shop. You can't tell her, or anyone."

Jeff nodded with a tight lipped smile. "I can keep my mouth shut, Abed…but I have a price."

"Name it."

"There's a room I want to become completely invisible to you. 24/7."

Abed blanched. "You're asking me to compromise my artistic integrity." His statement just made Jeff laugh. "And you're asking me to deceive our friends. Trust me, Abed…no one uses this room anyway. You'll be better off if you don't have to review it on a daily basis."

As Jeff began explaining which room he wanted blacked out, Abed just nodded. This wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

Study Room F

Annie sat alone in the study room, just waiting for Britta to return, and getting a head start on reading the first chapters in some of her Forensics texts. She was suddenly startled by a voice behind her, which she tuned out as she muttered to herself.

"How did Jeff ever focus with the study room door right behind him? Oh…that's right, Jeff? Focus? Ha!"

"Helloooo…earth to Annie Edison!"

Annie startled for the second time in mere moments, as she realized that the first instance of being startled sent her down a line of thought that had her end up completely ignoring the person calling her name. She turned around to find out what Jeff wanted. Startled or not, she still recognized his voice.

"What, Jeff? Where's Abed?"

"Busy. Pack up and come with me, quick!"

"Where are we going? We've got class soon." Annie protested, even as she started collecting her things. "Annie...class isn't for almost an hour." Jeff rolled his eyes at her. Even after a summer of teaching her how to slack, she still fell back into her old habits when she was in a familiar environment. "Forty-five minutes, Jeff…hardly an hour."

Jeff rolled his eyes once again. "Ok, so we can be fast. C'mon!"

Annie finished gathering her belongings and stood, striding over to join him at the door. "But what about Britta? She should be out of the vents soon."

"Yeah, I'm hoping to actually get out of here before that happens." Jeff acknowledged.

"But where are we going? And I'm still mad at you!" Annie began to protest as Jeff weaved his fingers with hers, and began walking off, forcing her to practically run to keep up. They made it as far as the end of the hall when Jeff stopped, and turned to Annie. "Wait…why are you mad at me?"

"Because you didn't tell me that that you were taking classes! I figured you'd want to let your girlfriend know that you were going to show up today." Annie said, putting on her formidable face.

"Annie…it's called a surprise. I thought you'd think it was cute. Pierce and I planned this out because we figured you all would have fun with it." Jeff gave Annie a completely stone-faced look to match her own, which made her start to cave.

"I know…it's just keeping things from me, it almost makes me feel like you're treating me like a kid, instead of a partner. It's just one of those things that sets me off with you, I guess." Annie admitted, her doe-eyes getting large, but refraining from moistening. Jeff was having very little to do with her tactics though. "Sure, I get it. How about instead of getting you gifts for birthdays, anniversaries or holidays, I just hand you some cash, because you don't like having surprises kept from you? And heaven forbid I ever take you out on a surprise date anywhere."

Annie's face clearly showed that she knew her argument sucked, and she decided to take her medicine. "Fine…you aren't necessarily in trouble. We can talk more about this later."

Astonishment bloomed on Jeff's face. "Talk about it later? Not necessarily in trouble? I can't win here!" Annie just grinned at him, and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss, which he gladly returned.

"C'mon Winger, get a room already!" A passing voice got their attention and caused them to break apart. For once, Annie was the one to deliver the retort.

"Shut up, Leonard! No one believes that you invented breakdancing!"

The old man cackled as he continued on his way. "Wait until I tweet it. People believe anything on there!"

Annie just shook her head, before turning her attention back to Jeff, who was looking at her in wonder.

"What?"

Jeff barely managed to stammer out the words..."That was amazing…God, I love you." Annie just grinned back at him, before she brought things back on track. "Ok, what was it you wanted to show me?" Jeff's face turned sly as he responded. "Something awesome…c'mon. Let's just say that for the first time in the several centuries he has to have lived by now, Leonard finally had a good idea. You remember the room they set up for a front for night school, right?"

With that, Jeff resumed leading Annie down the hall.

Meanwhile, back in the study room, Britta finally emerged from the vent to an abandoned room. She looked around to see only her own possessions still around, making it abundantly clear that no one else was planning to come back before class. She scowled and shook her head in disbelief.

"Figures. Jags."

* * *

Greendale Security

Abed didn't betray any signs of noticing as the door to the security room opened, and closed, with a new occupant in the room with him, his gaze focused on the monitor, running through footage at high speed. He only briefly looked away when a baked good was held out in his peripheral vision. He hit the pause button, and turned to his best friend.

"Cupcake? Fresh baked by the A/C guys." Troy said. Abed took the treat, and setting it on the table, he and Troy did their signature handshake.

"How's it been without me in here? Bet it's real boring, like being alone in your head without multiple personalities to keep you company." Troy's mind obviously began to wander contemplating the possibilities.

"Not too bad. Jeff was with me for awhile. I had to tell him our secret about this room to keep him from telling Shirley, and we made Britta's phone blow up before she went crawling through the ducts." Troy's eyes grew wide at this news.

"You what?! Tell me everything!"

"I'll show it to you later. I need to sync up the sound, and run it through some filters to clean up the sound and video quality, but I think you'll like it. Jeff, Britta, Annie and I got to play Mission: Impossible." Troy looked completely dejected now. "Man…and I thought my A/C cupcakes were awesome. You don't get to have fun adventures without me anymore."

Abed had returned to reviewing footage by this point, but still responded. "I have no problem with that. Jeff exacted a price from me to maintain his silence. I don't have to do that with you."

Troy's shock was evident in his voice. "What did he make you do to keep quiet?"

"I had to promise a total surveillance blackout in one room, in perpetuity. At least no one ever uses it, so it's not like I'm going to really miss anything, but it's the principle of the matter. Plus…what if someone randomly uses it someday? It'd probably be something interesting, and I'd totally miss it."

"Which room?"

Abed pointed at the monitor, still running footage at four times normal speed. "Actually, that one, behind that door."

As they were watching, they saw the door open, and Jeff and Annie step out, movements exaggerated, due to the increased tempo. As they watched, Annie clearly adjusted her clothing as if it weren't quite on right, as well as buttoning up a previously undone blouse button, before pressing Jeff up against the doorframe for a kiss. While they were kissing, Abed thought he saw Jeff's eyes open and flicker up to look directly into the camera.

After the kiss broke, Jeff said a few silent words to Annie who nodded, hugged him, and walked off screen at a comic pace. After she was gone, Jeff's gaze clearly drifted up to engage the camera directly, which didn't go unnoticed by Abed or Troy. He then also walked off screen, in quadruple time. Troy and Abed turned to look at each other, with nervousness evident on both faces.

"Hey, Abed…how long ago was this taken?"

Abed started to check the time stamp on the footage, when suddenly a student passing down the hall slowed down dramatically.

"Uh oh."

Troy's eyes grew wide at his friend's pronouncement. "Uh oh is bad, Abed. What's going on?"

"You see how that student suddenly slowed down?" Troy nodded in response. "Well, that means we've caught up to the present and we're watching in real ti-" Abed was cut off by the door slamming open, revealing an out of breath Jeff, who had clearly run here from the door they had just seen him stepping out of on camera. Troy was the first to react, Abed sat stock still, not turning away from the monitor, eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Heeeeeey, Jeff. You're looking…exercised."

"I try to keep in shape, Troy. The ladies like it."

Troy couldn't decide whether it was a laughing moment or not, but decided to play it straight. "Yeah, bet they do. So, how's Annie?"

Jeff shook his head. "We don't have time for this, we've got to get to class, but first, Abed! The camera in the hall outside that room too. Kill it."

Abed still didn't look away from the monitor. "Cool. Cool cool cool."

Jeff stalked out of the room towards the Astronomy classroom, and Abed and Troy sank in their respective spots, grateful that the situation, which could have turned out much worse, ended up being so simple.

"C'mon man, we've got to get to class." Troy was the first to recover, and Abed nodded, only reaching to his laptop to access the security system one last time to remove the offending camera from use, as per Jeff's demands.

The first Astronomy class went quietly enough, with only a minor quibble between Jeff and Annie about whether or not they'd sit on the front row. Of course, Annie insisted on being in the front, and Jeff insisted on not being in the front. The rest of the group, and even most of the rest of the class knew better than to butt in, but one of the German students was foolish enough to suggest that they consider not sitting together, as way of compromise. Neither Jeff nor Annie said a word, but their steely glares were enough to cow him into silence.

They ended up compromising in a different way, and sitting on the second row. Not quite as far back as Jeff liked to be, but he allowed that he didn't really care if the teacher called him out for playing on his phone during class, since he already had his degree. Annie would have still preferred to be on the front row, but decided that since her first go-round with 'senioritis' ended up as a bit of a flop, she could try this to kick off a second attempt. Plus, during the times when Jeff actually put his phone down, sitting next to him meant he could put his hand on her knee under the table, and she could reach down with her left hand and lightly stroke his hand, while still taking notes with her right, of course. They both seemed to enjoy the opportunity for such brazen physical contact in public after having danced around each other for so many years.

After class, the group headed back to the study room, with each of them taking up their familiar seats, except for Jeff and Annie, who remained swapped in position after a false start that both had them nearly sitting in their usual spots. Suddenly, an air of tension that had been broken since prior to class returned.

Annie started trying to dispel the tension by beginning to discuss study strategies for Astronomy, but she didn't get very far when she was interrupted by everyone else in the study group looking past her with wide-eyed expressions. She slowly turned to see a fuming Dean Pelton standing behind her, holding her digital recorder as if it were a dead animal.

"I believe this belongs to you, Annie." He said, with the most steel anyone had ever heard in his normally petulant voice.

Britta was the first to get her bearings and to try to salvage the situation. "Dean! Shouldn't you be hiding in your closet still, so your past self doesn't see you and make the universe…do something bad?"

The Dean turned his attention to Britta. "Now, how did you know I was in the closet?" which earned a guffaw and a comment from Pierce, "Everyone knows that!" but the Dean acted like he hadn't heard a word the older man had said, which the rest of the group knew would just pique him to try even harder the next time.

"Well, do you know what happened when I came out of the closet, Ms. Perry?"

"No one was surprised?" Pierce's second comment didn't go unnoticed this time. "No, Pierce, actually…I was surprised to find Ms. Edison's little toy on my desk as the source of my own voice that I'd been hearing while I hid in my closet, frightened for the very fabric of reality, thanks to Abed over there."

Abed's eyes narrowed slightly. "How did you know it was safe to come out of the closet?" Both Pierce and Troy started chuckling at this, and even Jeff gave an out of character snicker, but Dean Pelton was undeterred. "Well, you see, I knew what day of the week it was, and I know that after a certain hour of the day, I leave for a certain meeting down at the hotel by the airport. I never miss it. Ever." This declaration spurred a lot of shifty eyes going back and forth between the study group members as they valiantly tried to avoid thinking about what such a 'meeting' might involve. "Now, when that time had passed, and I could still hear myself talking, I got confused, so I came out of the closet, and lo and behold…Annie's recorder. I then took it upon myself to check the records of Jeff and Pierce here, or…rather, have my secretary check them, and she confirmed what I had thought this morning. You two both graduated last spring, and you're taking the Astronomy class without applying it to a specific major. You guys were tricking me all along, and that isn't how friends treat friends!" The Dean's voice built up to being more petulant as he reached his conclusion. The group again, looked around at each other, with facial expressions ranging between something approximating attempted shame, and quiet pride at their practical joke.

"Now, for punishment, I think that Mr. Winger and Ms. Edison should switch back to their normal seats." The Greendale administrator made his final declaration, trying as hard as he could to make it sound like he had deeply considered this as a suitable punishment for all involved. Annie was scandalized the most, but Jeff's eyes had just grown wide with fear. He couldn't say anything in his defense for once, leaving Annie to speak up.

"What?! Why is that a punishment?"

The Dean clearly didn't want to explain, because he simply snapped his next words, sounding oddly similar to a child throwing a tantrum. "Because that's what I've decided, now do it!"

Jeff and Annie both stood up, and as they passed each other, Jeff laid his hand on Annie's shoulder, as if to communicate that he had her back on this. Annie looked up and gave Jeff a deep, soulful look communicating her own sympathies.

As Jeff sat down, the Dean acted like an addict who'd been without a fix for too long, bending nearly double to touch Jeff's abs, and as he stood and walked out of the room, allowed his hand to trail up Jeff's chest, and off his shoulder, muttering as he did so. "Ohhhh yeah, that's how it's supposed to be."

Jeff sat there after the Dean had left the room, maintaining a wince on his face, as they heard the shrill voice carry back from the library. "And there aren't any more switchsies, got it?!"

No one said a word for several minutes. Finally, Jeff broke the silence.

"Well, I guess all that remains to be said is, 'Welcome back to Greendale. Nothing's changed.'"

From inside the vents they heard an echoing voice, "You mean nothing's Chang'd. Get it right, Winger."

Britta just groaned, "Ugh…we're going to have to deal with THAT again? Maybe we ought to just let him in the group already." Abed nodded at Britta, "I kinda already made it seem like he was part of it last spring…and he did come to the Christmas party."

Pierce couldn't just let that go without putting in his piece though. "I say if we're talking about inviting anyone at all, we need to have another mixer. Maybe someone could bring kettle corn?" This idea brought a huge smile to Troy's face, but the conversation in the room devolved into a chorus of groans, grumbles and general dissent as everyone gathered up their stuff to leave for the rest of their day.

Outside of the study room, Jeff held Annie by the waist, while she gripped him by the arms, just above his elbow. "So, are you still mad at me?" She rolled her eyes at him and flipped her head back and forth a little as she considered her answer. "I dunno, Jeff…I just wish you'd told me. I hate waking up alone when I've gotten used to waking up with you holding me. I know, it sounds cheesy…but c'mon, you're the guy who used to brag about never cuddling afterwards…and now, I've got gotten used to waking up in your arms. It's kind of a proud thing for me, and even though I know you're still waking up holding me, having you gone when I wake up is a bit jarring. Maybe if we'd discussed it first…it was just a shock and a surprise when you showed up today, and I feel like I'm running at the mouth, am I running at the mouth?"

Jeff smirked down at his petite girlfriend, pulling her in close for a tight hug. "Annie, I wanted to do something that you'd appreciate, and I figured that showing up for a class I didn't even need to take, and 'getting in bed' with Pierce to keep the whole group together while the rest of you finished up would be something you'd love. I'm sorry that there were drawbacks, but there had to be a sacrifice somewhere, and I figured the surprise was the bigger deal."

Annie nodded up at him, extending her arms to wrap around his neck as she did. "You did good. It's just one of those examples of crossed signals. We're fine." As if to prove the point behind her words, she pulled him down for a deep kiss, whispering to him after she broke it, "I still love you, Jeff. Crossed signals and all."

Jeff pulled away, his affection for this woman clearly showing in his eyes. "I love you too, Annie. I've got to get back to work though, and you've got more classes. Are you coming over tonight?"

She nodded. "You bet. I just have to grab a couple of things from my place first."

Jeff had begun to walk away. "Ok, I'll get dinner going as soon as I get home. I think there's something we should talk about tonight."

Jeff's final words gave Annie pause as she stood there, stunned, as Jeff just walked away. He was long gone before she really processed what he had said.

"Wait…what?! Talk?"

* * *

Later that Night: Jeff's Apartment

Annie rolled off of Jeff, exhausted and content. As she snuggled up next to him, and gently started pressing kisses into his shoulder and chest, she felt a wave of happiness roll across her as Jeff wrapped his arm around her to start stroking her hair gently.

"So, Annie…I've got a bit of a tough question for you here." Jeff pressed his lips together tightly and Annie's nervousness began to grow, having completely forgotten about the ominous talk he'd mentioned earlier that day.

"You sure know how to pick your moments, Jeff. Wait until she's had dinner, and basking in the afterglow? Well…lay it on me."

"Well…if you remember, which you should, since you use it all the time…back on that morning after our first night together, I gave you a key, and let you know you were always welcome here."

Annie stiffened. This could go several places, and most were bad. "Yes…of course I remember."

"And you've been over quite a bit…and I've thought you've been happy here."

Annie pulled herself closer to Jeff, rolling up onto her side. "I have been. I love coming over. That's why I'm over here pretty much all the time! Is it becoming a problem?"

Jeff finally turned his head to meet her gaze instead of staring at the ceiling. "What? No. I was just wondering why you hadn't just moved in yet. I mean…your cat is more of an official resident than you, and I just haven't been able to figure out why you still have 'your place.'"

Annie felt herself melting inside. Jeff wanted her to live with him, officially. At least…that's what she was gathering from what he was saying, but she still needed to explain. "Well, I just kinda figured…you probably like your space, and if anything happened between us, like you got bored of me, or decided I was too clingy or something, then I'd have my place for backup."

Jeff's expression didn't change. "Annie, let me rephrase that. Will you move in here with me?"

The only answer he got immediately was Annie's lips pressed up against his.

"So, should I take that as a yes?" he asked, with a smirk beginning to cross his lips. Annie just nodded at him, still unable to speak. Surprise registered on her face as he rolled out of bed, and beckoned for her to come with him.

Jeff led her out to the kitchen, and pulled out two small tumblers. Annie looked at him inquisitively as he started pouring scotch, and found her voice enough to say "Just a single for me, thanks."

"God…you have no idea how hot it is that you've learned to appreciate scotch…I should just mention that."

"Well, dating you leaves me little choice. I still prefer something like an appletini, but I see the appeal of scotch on occasion. Speaking of…what's the big deal with rolling out of bed all of the sudden for a nightcap?"

Jeff tossed off a sly smile, "Well, I figured you agreeing to move in with me was worthy of a toast. You see…I've never actually cohabited with a girlfriend before. We're crossing entirely new bridges here, Edison."

Annie wasn't sure if the warmth in her stomach was from the scotch, or Jeff's words. She set her tumbler down on the counter, and wrapped her arms around his midsection, pressing the side of her face into his chest as she held him tightly. "God, I want to say you aren't the same man I met back when I was 18, but you are…you're just better."

Jeff chuckled. "Part of that's thanks to the study group…but a lot of it is thanks to you. You're the one person who never let up on making sure I was becoming a decent person. You're the best, kiddo."

Annie gasped at that, and slapped his chest at the return of his habit of diminishing her because of her age, but she did it with a smile on her face. She knew the age difference was of next to no consequence to Jeff anymore, and he was just trying to bait her. Still, the mood had shifted into something far more playful now.

"Anyway, it'll be good to have you here permanently. And Annie…it won't bother me if you want that spot at the study table. If you want the 'head spot,' you can have it."

"No she can't!" the voice of Craig Pelton came through the wall of Jeff's kitchen, where the apartments shared a common wall.

"You know what, Annie…maybe your moving in here was a bad idea."

Annie looked at him, hurt clear on her face. She'd just agreed to move in, and now Jeff was rescinding the offer?

"Yeah…maybe we should both move in together someplace else entirely, and we'll set up a PO Box, so no undesirables can figure out where we live!" Jeff shouted this last statement, earning a yelp through the wall of someone who'd just heard something terrifying.

Jeff's chuckle rumbled deep in his chest, and Annie pulled herself back in to be wrapped in his arms. She was going to move in with Jeff…everything seemed totally perfect.

Things could only keep getting better from here, right?

* * *

A/N: If you made it this far, you're a trooper. I've got quite a bit to cover here, and it's actually somewhat important.

Length: Like I said at the start...these are going to be long. I don't want to split the 'episodes' up into different chapters, even though it might ultimately be better, I feel like it would be too jarring of a break. I apologize.

Formatting: I'm really unhappy here...if you read this before I had a chance to update it, where I had a triple dash signifying a sudden change in scene when I had it written in my word processor...it all ran together when I copied it over, which forced me to hurriedly edit it, putting in the full screen lines for cuts, which then felt weird if I didn't then label the new scene. It feels very jarring and inorganic to me. If anyone has a suggestion, I would love you forever.

Characters: You'll notice Pierce and Troy are both present. I have every intention of keeping them thus. I love both characters, and I'm betting Dan Harmon would keep them around if he could too. Additionally...I think that if I DID write them out, however I did it would end up just looking ridiculously stupid once we see how it's done on the show. Thus, I'll play it safe, and just keep them in my toolbox of available characters.

Abandonment: Here's the deal. Abandoned fics can be frustrating. Even if you don't like the story, sometimes you still want to see how it resolves. That's why I'm committing to finish this, or delete it. If I can't get a chapter up regularly (I will be setting a reminder in my calendar 45 days after the posting of a chapter at first, but I intend to reduce that down to 30 days as I complete other projects, and I hope to ultimately be knocking out a chapter a week until completed, reminder or not) I will just delete everything as not to have some orphaned story up here.

Future Chapters: Here's where I'm going to ask for some help. I've got some outlines for future chapters...but not nearly a full season (13 or 24...probably 13, to be honest, but we'll see how many ideas I manage to put together into a greater whole.) I am soliciting any ideas from readers who have something they've thought they'd like to see written into a story like this. This can include whole episode concepts, plots, even just gags or one-liners. I can't promise I'll use everything that gets submitted (if anything does,) because some won't fit, and some I just won't be good enough to write. I am grateful for any submissions though. They can be PM'd to me here, or submitted via my tumblr (link is on my profile.) Submissions on my tumblr can be sent anonymously, or by your account. If you send it anon, and wish to be credited...please include a name. If you send it non-anon, but don't want to be credited, please make sure it's clearly noted. I would love to credit everyone who gives me ideas though. Don't hesitate to send any ideas...but I should give a heads up now, I don't want to overload on 'concept episodes,' and I've already got a few outlined.

References: I will post a list of the references made in each chapter on my tumblr, because some of them might be a bit tough to get without getting too heavy handed and obvious about them. I will use the tag #badfanficreferences in case anyone is looking for them.

Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be too much of an epic disaster! Looking forward to getting the next chapter underway.


	2. Intermediate Topics in Thermal Therapy

Pairing: Jeff/Annie (Though the entire Greendale Seven shows up throughout the story, and Jeff and/or Annie may be 'paired' with any of the others for story (not romantic) purposes, the main backbone of the story is with Jeff/Annie. There may be other ships that appear...I'm as of yet unsure, or even which would show up if they do.  
Spoilers: Through the finale of Season 4, and the events of my last story, Remedial Studies in 360-Degree Revolutions  
Word Count: 9,835  
Rating: PG-13 (language)  
Disclaimer: If I owned Community, you'd all probably absolutely hate it.  
Author's Notes: I take liberties with character's motivations and thoughts...but that's kind of the name of the game if you're going to write fan fiction. I try as hard as I can to stay within the limits of the developed character though. Also...this is incredibly long. I'm aware of this. I'm writing this as an AU 5th Season, with each chapter serving as an 'episode.' Basically...I'm writing the sort of thing that I want to read, which is a bit of a conceit. If ficlets are more your thing, you will hate this. Additionally, if awkwardly written fan fiction is not your thing, you will also hate this. Extended A/N is after the story itself.

* * *

"So, Jeff…why don't you tell me how this week has gone?"

It was time for Jeff's weekly therapy appointment, and his therapist started every appointment with the same question.

"Well, Dr. Shoemaker, it was another week at the world's craziest school, with the world's craziest bunch of oddballs. Is it any wonder I need therapy?"

"First of all, Jeff, it's Cobbler, not Shoemaker; you know that. And secondly, I thought we figured out months ago that the friends you've chosen are a symptom of your neurosis, not the cause? Because of your 'issues' growing up, you ended up bonding with a…less than conventional group? And finally, I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, not a doctor. I tell you this literally every week."

"Yeah, but I feel like it's less a waste of my time if I try to pretend you're a doctor. Still a waste, just less of one."

Jeff's therapist gave a single slow nod, appraising the situation. "Ok…it seems like you're feeling slightly more hostile than your usual light disdain. Why don't you give me a quick rundown, and we'll try to pinpoint where the issue is."

Jeff rolled his eyes and allowed himself to sink back on the couch in a more relaxed position, even leaning his head against its back, and staring at the ceiling, as if trying to determine where to start.

"Well, it all began when the A/C at the school went out. As I'm sure you're well aware from the stifling temperatures, and stuffy air in here, it's been unusually warm so far this fall. Well, none of us like being hot, and my friend Troy-"

"That's the one who's involved with your community college's A/C school in some odd way, right?"

"Yeah, he's their 'Messiah' or whatever. Anyway, none of us like being hot, and we were kind of being passive aggressive, or flat out directing our anger and aggression at Troy. Predictably…he started crying."

_Earlier that week_

"You guys! I've told you a million and one times! Just because I'm the Chosen Repairman doesn't mean I can make an A/C unit work above capacity! Do you people even understand how A/C units work? They aren't magic boxes, even though they may seem like it to most people, including me!" Troy was practically yelling, and any member of the group would have noticed that tears were forming in the corners of his eyes and he was nearly in hysterics, if they weren't all too busy fanning themselves or wiping their foreheads. The temperature in the room was oppressive. Abed was the only one who seemed undaunted by the heat, whether it didn't hit him as hard due to his slender frame, or it was beneath his notice, no one could be sure, but between that, and his tight friendship with Troy, he was the next to speak…

"I have to say, I'm hating this plotline," he held up a hand to forestall the oncoming comment from Britta, "yes, Britta, I know our lives aren't a TV show, and we don't have plotlines. I'm sorry, but the heat has sapped my patience. I didn't mean to snap."

Britta exchanged warily uncomfortable looks around the table with a couple of other study group members…nothing about Abed's outburst, if it could even be called that, would have made anyone else refer to it as 'snapping.' His cadence, tone, and volume had all stayed at their normal, even levels.

It was Annie who called them all back to attention. Even with beads of perspiration beginning to form on her forehead, she was determined to stick to the study schedule. Besides, the last time someone had pointed out that Annie clearly looked like she felt warm, and that perhaps they should postpone the group study, Annie's mouth had drawn to a thin line, and Shirley had, very helpfully, supplied the group with her wisdom that "Women don't sweat, they glow."

After someone had pointed out to Shirley that she had ruined her own chances, as well as anyone else's for getting out of the sweltering hellhole early, she only had one word to bitterly respond with; "Damn."

However, armed with the knowledge that her sweat wasn't really sweat, which, of course it really was…Annie was more determined than ever to keep things rolling.

"Guys! We have got to get through this material or we'll have to cram extra hard later!"

"Annie, I think right now we'll take cramming over this, even if it's extra hard cramming."

Later, when harassed about giving Pierce the opening, Britta would claim that the heat was getting to her. Everyone had to give her that one.

"Brittles prefers her cramming be extra ha-"

"PIERCE!" No one could say for sure, but at a minimum, Jeff, Shirley, and Annie were all shouting at their oldest, crudest, most desperate to belong friend and getting him to back down. Jeff stayed standing, clearly gearing up for a speech, but no one paid him any heed.

*SLAM* Jeff brought down both palms on the table.

"Ok…that's it. We aren't getting anything done. It's too damned hot. We hardly ever get anything done in the first place, and even this minor inconvenience is setting us off, and I'm starting to sweat right through this shirt, and I just got this shirt back from my service. Annie…you love this shirt, remember?"

Annie just rolled her eyes at Jeff. He wasn't winning her sympathies, or her approval for ending the study session early. Jeff just let this roll off his back, and kept going.

"So…everyone head on out, and enjoy your nice, cool homes. Get your studying done, and we'll meet up again tomorrow."

"The AC for Troy's and my apartment isn't any stronger than the AC here. It's sweltering at our place."

"My cats are too frail for me to keep the AC running at my place. They need warmth…but right now, it's too hot for me."

"My boys leave the doors open constantly. I'm not paying to cool the neighborhood."

Jeff looked around the table in disbelief. "Pierce, don't you have anything to add? Seems like everyone else just wants to complain."

Pierce looked smug. "Not at all, Jeffrey. My mansion is well-equipped with a series of swamp coolers. Keeps the whole place cooler than a cucumber. Gets a bit muggy at times, but it's worth it for the comfort."

Everyone looked at Pierce with expressions of mixed shock and pity. Jeff was totally unable to keep the incredulity out of his voice.

"Pierce…you ARE aware that swamp coolers are antiquated next to air conditioners, right? I mean…to keep your mansion at ALL cool in this kind of heat, you have to be practically swimming through your hallways."

Annie managed to find her voice for the first time in several minutes. "Pierce, don't you have those libraries with all those old books and nice leather chairs? Mildew has to be setting in if you're running swamp coolers like that."

"I'll have you know that my swamp coolers cool my house efficiently, comfortably, and with zero drawbacks." Pierce's pride had him affect a wounded tone, and he stood to leave, but on his way out, stooped to talk to Troy.

After Pierce had left the room, Troy gave the group a wounded look. "Now I get to go put together a plan to replace his swamp coolers with AC units. Thanks guys! That's how I wanted to spend my afternoon."

"Sorry Troy." Jeff's apology had sincerity behind it…he wouldn't wish more time spent with Pierce on anyone.

With Pierce having left, the rest of the group aside from Jeff and Annie began to pack up and leave the room. Annie just sat there, determinedly reading her book, or at least acting like she was. Jeff patiently sat, and watched her, waiting for her to react. He knew he could outwait her.

He wasn't disappointed.

"If you're waiting for me to finish, you're just going to have to wait until our scheduled study time is over. If that's too long for you, you can just leave with the rest of them." Annie's voice betrayed a hint of bitterness.

"Annie, come on, this is ridiculous. It's way too hot in here to focus, and that's considering that, like I said…we really don't get much studying done in the first place. Besides, if you forgot, I kinda dropped you off this morning…how will you get home without me?"

Annie's eyes blazed at this reminder that in this case, she was slightly dependent on him. That had to be the last possible thing she wanted right now, when she was already infuriated by the disruption in her carefully planned schedule, and her infuriation was only exacerbated by the heat.

"I'll walk if I have to." Annie bit out a reply.

"Annie, don't be ridiculous. Come on, let's just go home, and try to relax…it's not like you're struggling in any of your classes anyway, and remember this summer? You became an expert goof-off…er."

"Jeff! That was different! I've started looking into graduate schools, and if I want to get into one of the better programs, especially with my history, I'm going to have to have a spotless record!"

Jeff looked up, an odd expression on his face. "Graduate schools?"

###

Hiram Cobbler looked up from his notepad, realizing that Jeff had seamlessly shifted the subject of his story. "Ahhh, yes. Your new belle…right? Tell me a bit about her, why don't you?"

Jeff gave his therapist a curious look. "Ohhhhh kayyyyy. Y'know, Dr. Bricklayer" Cobbler's face visibly reddened, and his lips pressed together in a thin line. Jeff managed to mostly suppress his smirk. "I thought I had already gone deeply, deeply into depth with you about her. Like, how you were the one who encouraged me to do that ridiculously over the top evening where I took her all around the school and tried to apologize for everything I'd done wrong to her over the years, or how you were the one who pressed me about having her move in…but now you want me to go over everything again?"

In response, the smaller, mousy man nodded vigorously. "Indeed. Why don't you start from the beginning? Pretend I've never heard a thing about her…I don't even know her name. I might jump in to ask questions from time to time."

Jeff settled back in, wiping his forehead as he did so, and silently thanking his stars that Britta, Pierce and the rest weren't here to make a crack about its size, since he had to be drawing attention to it with all the sweat dabbing.

"Ok, her name is Annie Edison, we met our first semester at Greendale in Spanish class. She attached herself to the fake study group that I started to try to hook up with Britta, because she had a serious crush on Troy, stemming back from high school."

"She seems to be extremely studious. Is this to make up for a lack of intelligence?"

Jeff sat bolt upright, immediately infuriated at the suggestion that Annie might be less than brilliant. "Ok…dangerous waters there, Blacksmith. Annie is not only studious, but also one of the smartest people you could hope to meet."

"Blacksmith?"

"I'm really starting to run out of old-timey professions to call you."

"You could just call me by my name, you know…some might even think that a small show of mutual respect like that might be a sign of progress. Name-calling aside though, Jeff, if Annie is so smart, then why is she at Greendale, instead of a more respectable school? I think you and I both know the reputation carried by Greendale Community College."

Jeff's face still carried a mask of confusion. "How do you not remember any of this? I've told you before, Annie got hooked on Adderall her senior year of high school, and ran through a plate glass door while suffering hallucinations from an overdose. She ended up having to finish her GED in rehab, and lost her scholarships and invitations to better schools. She came to Greendale to get back on track and to try to transfer, but decided she belonged here. How is this not old news to you by now?"

Cobbler shook his head innocently, as if he had no recollection of hearing any of this before. "Guess I just have a bad memory. It's why I take so many notes, but sometimes it's good to hear it again, in case I missed something the first time around. So, tell me, Jeffrey…do you and Annie ever fight?"

Jeff raised an eyebrow to this last question, then just started laughing.

When he didn't stop laughing after several minutes, the therapist decided to actively reengage him, as to get some explanation. "Should I take your laughter to mean that you don't fight?"

Jeff wiped the tears from his eyes, still chuckling as he did so. "Fight? Oh yeah…we fight. We fight all the time. We bicker, snipe, shout, hold grudges, range between aggressive and passive-aggressive…"

_Earlier that week_

Jeff and Annie walked down the halls of Greendale, Jeff having finally convinced Annie to pack up her study materials early. She wasn't happy about this.

"You really think you are just the boss of all of us, don't you?" she tossed off a remark to Jeff, who was walking right by her side, her tone beginning to rise, and step beginning to quicken. Jeff kept up effortlessly.

"No, Annie…I don't think I'm in charge of anyone. Honestly, I barely feel like I'm in charge of myself most of the time, with the rest of you all dragging me in six different directions sometimes. However, on rare occasion, I can recognize the path that everyone's about to go down, and jump in front of everyone, so that we can get down that path a little more quickly. Today was one of those days…our study session was already over, it's just that no one else wanted to say it yet." Jeff's voice had a similar rise in tone and volume.

"Ohhhh, you think that just because you're so handsome and well-spoken, you can appoint yourself the leader, and sit in your big fancy Jeff Winger throne, and dictate to the rest of us when we're ending our scheduled study session early, or when we're going to use the last of the cleansing facial mask belonging to the other person you live with, even though she really needed it!" Annie was far louder than normal by now, and heads were beginning to turn and watch her and Jeff as they speed-walked down the halls, arguing the whole way.

"I distinctly remember telling you that my facial product was on backorder, and that I might need to use some of yours! I had a big court date coming up, and I need to continue impressing my new bosses so that I can start getting more high profile cases! Besides, it's not my fault that you were nearly out! And I've learned to share as well...or did you forget that I've allowed you to use my imported hair products quite a few times when you've run out of your store-brand stuff in the mornings?!"

By this point, people were starting to outright follow Jeff and Annie as they continued their argument, oblivious to their new entourage. Vicki leaned over to Neil as they walked side-by-side. "Do you think this is it for them? Are we finally watching them disintegrate? Maybe it'd split the whole group apart and we wouldn't have to deal with their crap anymore."

Neil just nodded, smiling at the possibility that the Greendale Seven might no longer be the seemingly sole focus of the school, but then rapidly sobered up. "I can't imagine that things would go as well as you're thinking…something would go wrong. At a minimum, the Dean would declare this an annual month of mourning, and enforce something ridiculous to make our lives a total pain in the ass." Vicki smirked sourly at this, and just continued following the arguing couple.

"Ohhhh, just because I got the wrong kind of creamer last time I went to the store? If you don't like hazelnut, Jeff, why not just buy some creamer on your own, or maybe add it to that shopping list that I have on the fridge, huh?"

"Of course, yet another list, from the list-maker herself! Maybe sometimes, some people don't like listing every single little thing, and just like their so-called partner to know some of their preferences! You've known for a very long time that when I use cream at all, it's French Vanilla! It blends well with the majority of my colognes, but carrying a coffee with hazelnut scent coming out of it, or having hazelnut breath? Cologne clash, woman!"

"Oh, you're worried about how pretty you smell? Who are you hoping to pick up on, Jeff? Huh? What's her name?"

By this point, at least twenty people were following Jeff and Annie, still totally unnoticed by the pair. Abed and Troy had become two of the herd, and had leapt out in front, watching their friends, and wearing concerned expressions.

Suddenly, Abed realized that Jeff and Annie were walking with a purpose…there was a destination in mind, but if it was the parking lot, they were taking a very roundabout route. There was another possible location though. This was potentially going to be very messy.

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. You don't have to worry about my comparing you to Zac Efron. Ever! That was a schoolgirl crush, Jeff! Plus, he's famous…how would I ever catch his eye here in Greendale?"

"Ohhhh, yeah…use the 'schoolgirl crush' deflection, Annie. If you don't recall, once upon a time, people, including you, referred to your feelings for me as a schoolgirl crush! Does that mean you're just going to move on along as soon as I start showing my age? Which, I should assure you…won't ever happen." Jeff added the last part hurriedly, and slightly lower in tone and volume.

Before Annie could start adding her response, they stopped directly in front of a door, which Jeff opened, and Annie stepped in. Abed's eyes grew wide…it was just as he had guessed. The room that had once housed the fake night school of Greendale, and 'Professor Professorson.' The room that Jeff had bargained with Abed into removing from school surveillance, for reasons he didn't disclose, but were easy enough to guess.

As the door started swinging closed, the group could hear Annie's retort. "Ohhh, you're so worried about your age. Have you ever considered the fact that men that age gracefully are thought to be handsome? Look at Sean Connery! Now, how many women get that same sort of treatment as they age?"

"Oh, so now you're into Sean Con-" the door finished closing, and Jeff's last shout was cut off.

The group could still hear shouting back and forth, but it was completely unintelligible. Neil began to move forward to open the door, but Abed and Troy both spread their arms to warn the group back. Vicki decided to get a bit pushy about it. "C'mon, guys. He's just going to crack it so we can hear."

Troy jumped in to the defense. "Trust us, no one wants to hear anything that's going on in there."

There was some back and forth for a few moments, but before anything could be resolved, and far sooner than Troy or Abed expected, the door swung open, and Jeff and Annie emerged. Jeff was buttoning his shirt, and Annie was re-buttoning her cardigan. Most disturbingly, Jeff had a glossy pink smear on his neck. Due to its nature, it was light enough that many might miss it, but Abed was able to pick it out as Annie's lip gloss. Had Annie been a lipstick wearer, it may have been far more of a giveaway to more people. Still, it was more information about his friends than he wanted to have.

As he was coming out of the door re-dressing himself, Jeff spoke.

"Nope. Too hot, sorry."

Annie was right beside him, nodding her head with an expression of total agreement on her face. "Wayyyyy too hot. Who's ever heard of a heatwave in Colorado at this time of year?"

Jeff shrugged at her. "Who knows…all I know is that even the AC at our place isn't cooling enough for me, and the super doesn't seem to want to do anything about it. I'm desperate to cool down a little bit, Annie."

She looked up at him with sympathy, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I know…we'll have to get Troy to come over and see if there's anything he can do."

With that, she pulled him down into a kiss, which he reciprocated. The crowd didn't make a sound, but many wore expressions of revulsion on their faces. The kiss was getting far more graphic than any had expected or bargained for, and having a front row seat wasn't exactly what they wanted.

When the kiss broke, Jeff reached down, and entwined his fingers with hers.

"What were we talking about again?"

Annie just smiled. "No clue. Let's go home."

The couple began walking to the parking lot, somehow never noticing the audience they had been playing to.

No one followed them this time.

Troy and Abed stood there a few minutes after the crowd departed. Troy with a look of resigned irritation on his face.

"I guess this is kind of like owning a truck…but instead of everyone asking me to help them move, I get to fix their A/C. Awesome."

###

"So, you argue with your girlfriend about anything and everything, huh?" Hiram Cobbler gave Jeff a raised eyebrow while continuing to make notes on his pad.

"Pretty much."

"And do you think that that's a healthy relationship to have?"

Jeff's expression turned stern. "Hey, now you're starting to overstep a little. You're the guy who encouraged me to pursue this, and now you're sounding like a nosy aunt."

The mental professional looked at Jeff, his expression indicating slight wounding. "Jeff, I just want to help you resolve your issues as best possible. Maybe that means figuring out that this relationship isn't as good for you as it first appeared."

Like a shot, Jeff was out of his seat and in the therapist's face. "Ok…this is the point where you back down from this position, like, immediately, or I swear I'll be out of that door, and you'll only hear from me again when I sue you for malpractice."

"On what grounds?" Cobbler asked with bland curiosity.

"I'll find some! Or…I'll go through your public record, and make sure that anything I can find and use comes back to haunt you. I don't care what hoops I have to jump through, I'll find something, and you'll have a fun day in court with me on the other side."

The smaller man just shook his head; "I don't really think that would work out that well for you, Jeffrey, but point taken. That reminds me, you're doing prosecution now, instead of defense, aren't you? How are you liking that?"

"Don't change the subject. You can ask me anything you want about Annie, but if you ever try to suggest that we split up, you're going to regret it. Got it?"

Cobbler just nodded. "You know, for a man who seems to revel in laziness, the passion you demonstrate when your relationship is questioned seems a bit out of character, Jeff."

Jeff chuckled and shook his head. "Man, Dr. Bear Claw…you really just don't know me that well, even after all these months. I may try to avoid doing things as much as possible…but when I care about something, I care 100%."

"We'll get back to your level of passion in a moment. Dr. Bear Claw?"

"Yeah, I ran out of medieval professions, so I switched to the other kind of cobbler…the dessert kind. A bear claw is a kind of doughnut. It worked in my head." Jeff's explanation carried a blasé tone.

Jeff's therapist just nodded. "Forgive me…if you're half as passionate about your other half as you are about making fun of my name…your earlier threats weren't out of character at all."

"Glad we got that handled. Anyway, prosecuting is…an interesting change."

_Earlier that week_

"Annie! Have you seen the tie I was going to wear today?" Jeff shouted across the room, from where he stood in the closet, to the bathroom, where Annie was getting ready for her day. They had worked out a system where she would get up earlier, allowing her to rise with him, and then he would drop her off at Greendale on the way to the office. She didn't mind the extra time on campus, because she would spend it studying, and it meant she didn't have to wake up alone.

"Mphhrrwwh!" Annie returned Jeff's shout, the toothbrush in her mouth making her response unintelligible.

Jeff rolled his eyes as he walked into the bathroom, grabbing Annie by the hips and swiveling her around to face him. "Oh, of course. That made perfect sense and solved all my problems. I know right where my tie is now."

Jeff started leaning in towards Annie, intentions to kiss her clear. Annie just barely managed to pull the toothbrush out in time to choke out a muffled "No! At least let me rinse first!"

Jeff considered himself lucky he could understand the petite woman, even with a mouth full of toothpaste foam. He waited patiently while she spat and rinsed, but as soon as she was done, so was his patience. He pulled her in for a deep kiss, and started toying with the tie to her bathrobe.

"And what exactly do you think you're doing, Mr. Winger?" she broke the kiss to ask, but kept her face flirtatiously close, in position and ready to move back in at a moment's notice.

Jeff gave a predatory grin back to her. "Well, Ms. Edison, I think that'd be self explanatory. I also can't imagine you complaining. Never have before…"

"Ohhh, you just think you've got me wrapped around your little finger, don't you?" Annie smirked back at Jeff, her hands moving down to intercept his and stopping him from any further progress at undoing her bathrobe. "We don't have time, Jeff…besides, it's still too hot to even think about getting close to each other like that."

Jeff broke away grumpily, and broke into a whine. "Annie…c'mon. How long has it been since we've had sex? I'm not used to going this long!"

Annie looked at him incredulously. "Jeff…what about the roughly two years between you and Britta ending your little hookup arrangement, and you and me becoming an item?"

Jeff shrugged at her innocently. "You've kinda spoiled me over the last few months?"

"Still…your previous question? How long has it been? Try less than four hours, since we both woke up in the middle of the night and decided we couldn't last any longer, heatwave or no heatwave?"

Jeff got a faraway look in his eyes, smiling and nodding at the memory. "Oh, yeah…that was pretty great. But still? How long before that?"

Annie walked towards him, poking him directly in the center of his chest. "Councilor Winger…you and I haven't it made a full 24 hour period during this heatwave without being intimate yet. I'm starting to wonder if the heat is making you hot…" Annie paired this last statement with a coy look, which just led to Jeff bursting out laughing, which made her pout when it was clear she was being mocked.

"Ok, Annie…that was cheesy. You win."

"Really? What do I win?"

Jeff grinned. "Sex with the most handsome man you can dream of?"

"Ooooooh! How'd you get Mark Ruffalo here on such short notice?" Annie squealed in response. Jeff just stared at her in disbelief, and after a few moments of stunned silence, started shaking his head.

"Wow…you managed it. Mood killed. You actually Britta'd the mood, Annie!"

"Stop that! We agreed not to use her name like that anymore." Annie smacked his shoulder.

"No, it's ok…she isn't here, so she won't know." Jeff's rationale sounded flimsy, even to him. Annie's retort didn't help, "Yeah, but it's good to stay in practice so we don't accidentally use it when she is. Anyway…you think I killed the mood? I'm betting I could bring it right back to life." Annie said as she stood straddling Jeff where he sat on the bed, one leg on either side of him, and shoved him straight backwards, before going to manipulate her bathrobe ties herself.

"But Annie, what about being late? I have court today, remember?" Jeff couldn't keep the sardonic note out of his voice.

"You'll have to clean up quick then, won't you?" Annie was fed up with his toying with her, and decided she was just plain taking control.

###

About an hour later, Jeff dropped Annie off at Greendale, making a quick stop into the cafeteria to see her off, and to see which of their friends were already there this morning. As it so happened, she was lucky enough to be able to join Shirley and Britta before Jeff had to dash out the door to make it to court.

"Good luck, Jeffrey! You're fighting the good fight! Jesus loves you! Make him happy and maybe he'll make the heat wave end!" Shirley trilled after him as he went. Britta was slightly more…aggressive, standing and thrusting a fist in the air.

"Go kick the other side's ass, Winger! Bring down all those corporations and rich people and give it back to the 99%!"

Annie frowned slightly at Britta. "Britta…you know Jeff hasn't suddenly become some Robin Hood, right? He's just…prosecuting the sleazy people instead of defending them. Most of his clients are still pretty well off."

Britta rolled her eyes. "Annie, you just don't get it, do you? Someday I'll teach you a little bit about raging against the machine."

"I'll be happy to let you, once you actually learn something about it." Annie mumbled as she took a sip of her iced coffee. Luckily enough, she was quiet enough that Britta, still standing, completely missed what she said.

"Huh? You say something, Annie?" In response, the small brunette just shook her head, and Shirley, who had managed to catch Annie's snark, suppressed a smile, but then her smile fell off her face as she noticed something.

"Oh, Annie…your camisole." Britta, sitting down, joined her in examining Annie's outfit, while Annie sat there with a quizzical look on her face.

Shirley's voice came out with a slight tone of mixed pity and judgment, joining Britta's. "Oh, sweetie, Britta's right. Look at your hems…your top is on inside out."

Annie gasped and started pulling at the item of clothing under her cardigan, going so far as to try to pull the back of it around, while twisting her head around as best she could to check the tags.

"Ohhhhh, damn!" Annie quickly stood up and began running towards the bathroom for her own emergency version of a wardrobe adjustment, her voice dopplering off as she moved swiftly from the table.

Shirley could only shake her head sadly. "I knew her taking up with Jeffrey was bad news. He's still too old and experienced for her. She's getting all corrupted with his temptations of the flesh."

"C'mon, Shirley…look at those two! They're happy together! Did you ever expect that to happen?" Britta couldn't help but smile, and shake her head, both at Shirley's tenaciously maintained stance regarding Jeff and Annie as well as the fact that she had a hard time herself believing that the couple was still working after this long.

"I dunno…I guess I just always figured you two would find your way back to each other. You bicker all the time like a married couple."

"Sorry Shirley, but Jeff and Annie fight just as much, but when they do it, there's real passion behind it, because they actually have feelings for each other. Jeff and I just fight because that's the default response we bring out in each other. You can say what you want, but I'm firmly Team Edison-Winger now. Besides, Jeff's flesh isn't all that full of temptations…" Britta finished her statement with her arms folded, and a firm nod at her friend.

Shirley rolled her eyes, "Yeah, that's why you two kept up the secret hanky-panky for half of our second year…because it was terrible, huh?"

Britta didn't have a chance to make more than a scandalized face, with a matching scoffing sound before Annie rejoined them, with her outfit now properly adjusted.

"There! All set!" Annie chirped brightly, Britta had one last question for her though.

"Annie, it's hot enough that you've switched to iced coffee…why are you still bothering with a cardigan?"

Annie looked caught off-guard by the question, but quickly regained her balance, and her rejoinder brought a wince to Britta's face "Well, Britta…I'll agree, it IS hot…so why are you still wearing a leather jacket?"

"Truce?"

Annie just nodded.

"Jeff, while entertaining…I'm not sure how you even know about these events, since you say you left right after dropping Annie off."

Jeff leaned back into the couch, "True, but I pieced it together from each of what they told me later. I'm not sure exactly why they did the telling…I didn't care, but now that I know, it's a semi-interesting story, isn't it?"

Cobbler shook his head, "No, not really…and I'm completely in the dark as to how it relates to your shift to prosecution, which is what I was asking about."

Jeff gave the therapist a predatory grin, "I know it doesn't. That was on purpose. I just got readmitted to the Bar! Do you really think I'm going to violate attorney-client privilege and risk that by discussing my cases with you?"

"So, that was all a mislead?"

"More of a deflection, really. Running out the clock."

Hiram Cobbler sighed deeply and ran a hand down his face. "You know, our…" he paused for a word that would adequately fit the gap, while simultaneously not referring to himself as a doctor, which he knew Jeff would seize on, and ended up settling on a non-word before continuing, "treaterer-patient privilege covers your attorney-client secrecy as well. You wouldn't face any sort of reprimand for speaking to me about cases."

"Even if that's true…and that's a big if, it's still not happening, pal. You don't need to know the specifics of my cases. And treaterer? Why not just cite HIPAA?" Jeff looked curiously at his therapist, having turned the tables on him…very little had transpired, but the mood in the room had definitely shifted. Jeff was now the one asking the questions, and the mousy smaller man was the one 'on the witness stand,' as it were. He was sweating, but Jeff didn't know if that was nervousness or just the heat.

They sat for a few quiet moments, Jeff with his arms folded, his stare fixed on Cobbler, who was attempting to appear as if he were studiously studying his notepad, but making surreptitious glances upward at Jeff on occasion. Jeff didn't fail to miss these glances, he started wondering why all of the sudden the mood had shifted, and when he came up blank, he decided to go for a Hail Mary.

"Well Doc, I think our time's up, isn't it?" Jeff's question held the hint of expectation, as if the therapist was supposed to suddenly reveal whatever it may be that had slipped into the atmosphere. He was disappointed by the results. "Yes Jeffrey, I suppose it is. Same time next week?" he asked, as Jeff stood to leave.

He paused at the door, and briefly turned his head. "Meh…I'll see you when I see you. Catch ya' later, Doc Streusel!"

With that last, weak insult, Jeff was out of the door, which closed behind him. Hiram Cobbler let out a sigh of relief, and went over to his desk. He sat, and reached up to the small external webcam mounted on the top of his monitor, swiveling it around to face his seat, rather than the therapy area it had been facing previously. He switched on his screen to see the face of another man smiling at him.

"Well…I'm sorry I couldn't get any details on his cases for you, but hopefully you caught something of interest." Cobbler apologized, his sweaty forehead worsening. The man on the other end responded.

"Ohhhh, yes, Hiram. I think we got exactly what we need here. By the way…you should get that sweating when you're nervous thing handled. Winger may have picked it out. If it wasn't so hot then he definitely would have…but he was trying to keep you off-balance during that whole session. Be careful around him. You can't be giving anything away."

Cobbler nodded. "I know…but it sounds like he won't be back anyway. Which is fine by me…what an incredible jag!"

The therapist's conversational partner smiled at him. "Don't you worry about Jeff Winger…I think I got what I need to take him down. "

"Just…don't let the recording of our session get out. I'd be finished, professionally." Hiram stuttered out.

"Never happen. Just let me take care of the rest, and you find a comfy seat to watch from. I may need you to sign the occasional document or two, but I'll let you know if that comes up…"

"Documents?" Cobbler asked…putting his signature on anything hadn't ever been discussed previously.

Again, another wolfish smile from the man on the other end of the connection; "Don't you worry about a thing…just one possible part of the plan starting to form. I'll keep you in the loop. You won't want to miss this! The complete destruction of that overly cocky bastard Jeff Winger is nigh…"

###

After therapy, Jeff puttered around his apartment for a bit, slightly at loose ends. He wasn't able to pick Annie up from school, due to a late forensics project, and he didn't have time to get into a show, or into one of his cases for work. He finally settled on flopping onto the couch and watching something he'd watched before, when he heard the front door opening.

"Annie? What are you doing home so early? I thought you were working on that blood spatter analysis project?" Jeff's expression carried both concern and nervousness.

"Yeah…turns out the teacher's plan to create spatters for us to study caused a janitorial revolt. He was going to mix corn syrup with red food coloring…pretty standard for movie blood, according to Abed. He was then going to blow it through a straw in various parts of campus. We were then going to hunt them down and analyze them as best we could…I mean, who knows if blowing corn syrup through a straw looks anything like spatter from a wound?"

Jeff just nodded. This sounded just like Greendale…half-assing anything they could to save a buck, including hiring apparently only semi-qualified instructors.

"Well, after the paintball mess our first two years, as soon as the janitorial staff heard about a teacher planning to do what they felt was the equivalent of splashing red food coloring all over the school, they filed a formal protest with Dean Pelton…who put a kibosh on the whole thing until the teacher can find a 'less messy' way to do it. Honestly, Jeff! I don't get how we're supposed to analyze something inherently messy when we can't make a mess!" Annie sighed, and sank into the couch next to Jeff, automatically cuddling into his side, while his arm tightened around her without his even thinking about it. For the first time in days, both of them ignored the effect the extra body heat of the other added to the already uncomfortable environment. They just wanted to be close for a minute, to seek reassurance and offer it to the other.

"So, how was therapy?" Annie chirped up at him, nestling the side of her face against his chest. Jeff winced. "Yeah…I think I'm done with that guy."

Annie sat bolt upright, leaving Jeff's embrace. "What? I thought we liked Cobbler?" she couldn't keep the shock from her voice. "Jeff…I thought this was the guy who gave you the advice that led you to finally…y'know, getting us together and all?"

"Yeah, he was, but he started getting kinda creepy about things. It just got weird, and I think we reached the end of the point where he could help me, Annie. He got us together, isn't that enough?"

Annie suppressed a frown, "Well, he didn't exactly get us together…he helped you get the perspective you needed to see what you wanted, and gave you the advice to move on it, but still…you don't regret that advice, do you? You don't regret us getting together, right?" Annie was starting to feel slightly less than confident in herself and in her ability to keep Jeff happy.

Jeff looked down at her with a gentle, but firm expression. "Annie…you need to promise me something. No matter what else happens, no matter what…you need to always remember that I love you. Understood?"

Annie nodded, she had no other response to give to that statement.

"Ok, now, I'm sure we'll fight at times, like we always do, and sometimes you might get a bit shaken up…but I love you. You and I have been together about four months now, which is officially my longest relationship. And we live together…which is a first for me. You just have to take heart in the ways I can show you my love, ok? I'm still not all that expressive…"

Annie responded by starting to snuggle back in, but was delayed by Jeff shifting his position to capture her lips as he intercepted her. This show of affection in addition to the words he'd already spoken went a long way towards reassuring Annie.

"So, what do you want to do tonight? Dinner?" Annie whispered softly after the kiss ended.

"Damn! I'm sorry, Annie…I forgot to tell you. Since you had that project, I scheduled something else for tonight. In fact…I've got to go get ready!" Jeff said as he practically leapt off the couch, leaving a stunned Annie.

"What exactly did you plan that you have to get ready for, Jeff?" Annie asked, trying to sound casual, and mask her concern.

"Oh…just a dinner. With…a client." Jeff seemed to be searching for his answer, which heightened Annie's suspicions. She pulled out her phone and immediately texted Abed.

"Abed…might need a favor. Where are you?" Fortunately, Abed was a quick responder when it came to texts.

"Family restaurant. What do you need?" That was perfect…the Nadir's falafel place was only about 5 minutes from their apartment.

"Jeff's acting weird…can you leave and follow him without his noticing? Then let me know where he's gone? And don't ask questions…I'll explain later." Annie felt bad about spying on Jeff, and even worse by involving a mutual friend, but deceit like this wasn't something she was entirely unfamiliar with…whether it was stalking Jeff to jump out of the bushes at him, or altering some lines in a fake gunfight…sometimes you went with your instincts.

"Sure. I want the full story later though. Just in case it ever comes to Jeff's attention…this way I'll have plausible deniability."

"Done."

With that, Annie put her phone away, and while she felt incredibly guilty, she also knew that not taking action would leave the unknown details of Jeff's dinner gnawing at her gut.

A few minutes later, Jeff kissed Annie goodbye, and with a promise to be home as quickly as possible, was out the door. Annie was just left with her trust in Abed, and her jealousy of whoever Jeff was going to dinner with…because he looked incredible in the suit he changed into.

After waiting enough time to make sure Jeff wasn't going to dash back in, having forgotten something, Annie left the apartment herself, and got into her old car that she barely used these days, having worked out a carpool with Jeff for most transportation. She got a directional update from Abed, since Jeff apparently hadn't arrived at his destination, and started heading towards the general area that had been indicated.

After about ten minutes of driving, and several bursts of further instruction from Abed regarding specifics of where to go, Annie found herself jumping out of her car after hurriedly parking, and running over to the outside of a high end restaurant, where she saw Abed waiting for her. Her heart was thudding in her chest, and if one were to look at her face, they would see a mix of emotions. Even Abed did.

"Annie, you have expressions I can't decipher. I'm guessing from the fact that we're stalking Jeff and you don't look happy, that…you aren't happy."

Annie held herself together to maintain her pride, and quickly recounted what had triggered this sudden act of paranoia. Abed nodded while she told him her tale.

"So, you're worried he might be cheating on you?" Abed asked completely neutrally; Annie was grateful, whatever else people might say about their friend, at least he didn't tend to add drama to an already dramatic situation.

"Yes…no! I don't know, Abed. I've never gotten that impression from him before, but tonight was weird. There was something odd about him, and I've never known him to do something like this."

"It's ok, Annie…we're all a little off our game. For what it's worth, look…he's sitting alone. No one's joined him yet."

As if on cue, they watched Jeff look up from his phone, thankfully, not out the windows at them, even though he'd be unlikely to see them, given the difference in light between the dark outside where they were, and the well-lit interior. Instead, he looked in the direction of the entrance, and obvious recognition crossed his face. He pushed his chair out and stood to great his dining companion.

When they realized who it was, even Abed was shocked enough for his mouth to drop open, matching Annie's.

"Pierce?" Annie whispered. "Why Pierce?"

Abed shook his head, "He and Jeff have an odd relationship. They're frequently nemeses, but on occasion they find something that brings them together…something to ally about."

They fell silent for a few moments as they watched Jeff and Pierce exchange what appeared to be small talk while they perused the menu. Annie asked Abed if he could make out what they were saying, but his response left her disheartened.

"Sorry, Annie. I've got some skills, but lip-reading definitely isn't one of them. I'll see if I can pick anything out though."

Jeff and Pierce ostensibly placed their orders with the waiter that came to their table, and then, from what the observers outside could surmise, appeared to get down to whatever business brought them together tonight.

"Jeff looks uptight and frustrated." Abed observed to Annie out loud.

"I thought you were bad at reading people, Abed?"

"This is different. This is almost like watching one of the old silent movies…I can pick things out in movies. There's a clear focus to the scene…not as much to distract me."

Annie gave Abed a sympathetic look that he'd never look back to see. It was hard every time she got a deeper look at any of her friends' personal difficulties, and this was one that she didn't know that she could ever help with. Abed was right though…Jeff's body language definitely screamed frustration.

"They've each said your name a couple of times. I know I said I can't lip read, but sometimes I can pick up one or two things. Don't ask me what they were saying about you though."

Annie was watching them like a hawk, and getting Abed's confirmation about something she thought she had seen was both comforting and disturbing. Did she want Jeff and Pierce talking about her?

All of the sudden, the scene seemed to shift. Jeff and Pierce didn't really move so much as there was an obvious movement of the balance of power at their table. Jeff stopped talking, and leaned back, and Pierce seemed to be dominating the conversation. What was more…neither one of them appeared to be upset. Pierce was clearly speaking with a purpose, and Jeff was listening intently. Jeff's body language was screaming 'relaxed' and 'comfortable,' and he'd nod on occasion.

Annie didn't realize how long they'd been watching things play out until she saw the waiter remove the plates and deliver the check. And then the most astonishing thing she'd seen all night happened. Jeff and Pierce both rose, and went to shake hands, but ultimately pulled each other into a backslapping hug. Annie was outright stunned.

"Abed?" she asked with a quaver in her voice. Knowing how much Jeff and Pierce often hated each other, this was even crazier than their teaming up to surprise them on the first day of classes this year.

"Pierce is taking on a paternal role for Jeff. It's not the first time it's happened…don't you remember family day our first year? Jeff had just been dumped by Professor Slater, and Pierce was there for him, even after the shenanigans with his step-daughter."

"Ugh, don't remind me of her."

"Sorry, but Annie…they're finishing up. We should go."

Annie nodded, and thanked Abed, asking him if he wanted to come back to their place to hang out for a bit, and help distract her. He declined, and they went their separate ways. Annie rushed home in an attempt to try to make it appear as if she'd been there and occupied during Jeff's entire dinner.

Jeff took longer to get home than Annie would have thought, which heightened her tension as she tried to focus on getting through some studying while she waited for him to come home. She was wound so tightly that the second she heard the doorknob turn, she couldn't hold it in anymore, and nearly shouted, in a voice far more full of false cheer than she intended "Hi Sweetie! Howwasdinner?" without even so much as turning to look.

"It was ok…are you alright?" Jeff responded, and this was when Annie finally turned to look at him, and realized he was late because he'd been picking up flowers for her. Suddenly tears jumped to her eyes, and she got up and went over to greet him.

"What are the flowers for?" she asked, with a cocked eyebrow.

"I felt bad that I left you here while I went to a nice place for dinner…and I missed you." Jeff leaned down for a kiss, which she hungrily reciprocated.

"Did you and your client have a good meeting?" Annie was still curious enough to probe, even though she felt guilty about the spying earlier.

He nodded. "It was ok. They've been through a lot of divorces and failed relationships, so I got to hear a lot of sad stories, and a lot about ways relationships can fail."

Annie took in the tired, faraway look on Jeff's face, and taking a hold of his hand, brought it up to her lips, where she kissed the knuckles, earning her a smile. She much preferred the smile…Jeff's tiredness made him look older than he was, which was a road she definitely didn't want to go down. When he was happy, it shaved years off, making her more comfortable given their disparate ages.

"You ready for bed?" She nudged him in the side.

"Annie…it's barely 8:30. I'm not going to be sleepy for awhile."

She gave him a coy smile, "That isn't what I was asking, Jeff." And as realization dawned on his face, he looked around the room as if he were searching for something. "Annie…have you noticed? It's not stifling in here!"

Annie rocked backwards, not having noticed that the temperatures weren't horribly uncomfortable anymore.

"You're right! I didn't feel uncomfortable the whole time I was out…here in the living room studying while you were gone! The heat wave is broken!" Fortunately, Jeff failed to notice her slip of the tongue, and she caught it well in time. He stopped looking around like a maniac, and looked down at her.

"What? What are you looking at?"

Jeff's lips pressed together in a stern line as he nodded grimly at her. "You. You're wearing way too many clothes."

Before she could react, Jeff wrapped a single arm around her waist and threw her over his shoulder, and carried her towards the bedroom, while she shrieked and giggled the whole way. When he lightly tossed her onto the bed, where she tried to get her laughter under control, he stepped away briefly to pick up Gizmo and Chloe, shooing them both out of the bedroom and closing the door.

The two cats looked indignantly at the closed door, seemingly grumpy at the idea of being closed out of their bedroom by the humans they allowed to share it with them, then promptly went towards the spots outside of the bedroom that they had designated as the most comfortable. Ignoring the noises from the bedroom, they each curled up and went back to sleep.

###

The next day, Jeff joined the group at school at lunchtime. He sat next to Annie, with an arm around her as she chatted with Troy about some random campus happenings that he hadn't been involved with while he carried on a conversation with Shirley and Britta about the reality of his new role in the courtroom, and how disappointed Britta was that he did, in fact, still work for businesses and corporations, and not just the downtrodden. Shirley maintained that as long as he was working to help the innocent and not the sleazy types he used to, Jesus loved him.

When Jeff saw Pierce enter the cafeteria, he briefly excused himself to go join Pierce in line. The older man acknowledged him as soon as he joined him.

"Jeffrey." Pierce nodded at him.

"Hey, Pierce…just wanted to thank you again for your time last night." Jeff broke the line of conversation briefly to let the cafeteria worker know what he wanted, and jumped right back into the thick. "I've been thinking a lot about what you said."

Pierce raised an eyebrow at him. "That's wonderful," he deadpanned. "I've long said you lot should listen to me more. Have you decided anything?"

Jeff nodded. "I'm going to do it. I think I have to. It's the right thing to do."

Pierce turned to face him head on. "Jeffrey. You need to think very long and hard about this. I don't like where you're going here…if you're going to do it, do it for the right reasons and in the right way. No matter how you do it, it's going cause some strong emotions…you just need to make sure you do it right."

Jeff looked Pierce directly in the eyes. "Pierce…this will be the toughest thing I've ever done, but I have to."

Pierce nodded. "I understand. Let me know if I can make it easier. I'm proud of you, Jeffrey. You used to avoid hard things."

Jeff turned and looked at Annie, and ignored the half-note of sarcasm in Pierce's tone. "Still do, Pierce. Sometimes they're necessary though."

Having completed the line, Jeff felt a lump growing in his stomach as he returned to his seat with the group. The lump only grew as Annie smiled up at him while he took his seat.

Jeff Winger was nervous.

A/N: Ok…I've mentioned this on my Tumblr, but first and foremost, I have to apologize for how long this chapter took. I didn't have a plot in mind, and had to figure one out. Additionally, about two weeks prior to this posting, we had an unexpected death in my semi-immediate family (My brother-in-law…so I don't feel like I can call him MY immediate family, but he IS for my wife.) This tweaked with my creativity and desire to write (along with my eating and sleeping, which just exacerbated the problem) for a little while. The good news is…as of the date of this posting, I've got the kernel of an idea for the next chapter, so I'm going to start on it ASAP.

Characterization: This is a sticking point for me. I spend a lot of time thinking "Ok, given what we know of these characters, and their canonical relationship, and the things that have happened in this little AU since I started writing it…WOULD this character do/say these things?" Due to this process, I've come to grips with a few things…for example, Annie in a 4 month long relationship with Jeff? Yeah, I think by that point, she'll be comfortable with her sexuality with him, so I write it that way.

No one has called me out about that or anything…I just constantly call myself out, which readers never see. I spend a LOT of time watching/analyzing the show, and especially the dynamic between Jeff and Annie, so I like to think I have a fairly good understanding of them, and where they could go in the future. I admit that I'm flattering myself pretty good there, and I DO watch through shipper goggles…so feel free to mock my 'understanding.'

Plot: So…I failed here. I intended this series to be Abed's utopia of 'stand-alone hijinks' with a central theme of Jeff and Annie running through it. I also intended it to have a greater amount of humor than Remedial Studies in 360-Degree Revolutions. Well…as of this chapter, I'm obviously setting up for several later events, and if it's funny in any way…it's very dark humor.

I'm sorry. It's gotten away from me. I'm super excited for some certain future chapters though, so I'm going to be mindful of pushing towards my original vision as much as possible, while still doing the things I've outlined wanting to do. We may end up with some weird hybrid…or my original vision may just plain not be compatible. Ultimately, I hope it's enjoyable more than I'm worried about my 'vision.'

As I said in the first chapter, if anyone has anything they'd like to see (a plot line, a gag, a one-liner, etc) show up…I'd happy to consider submissions. I've got plenty of room to work them in. Other than that, I thank you for your time reading this. I know it's long…and that's intentional. I like to think I'm not adding tons of unnecessary material, but rather, trying to create a roughly show-length story, and trying to give a good look at the world. For those who aren't fans of really long stories…I apologize. I actively seek them out, so that's what I find myself wanting to write.


	3. Special Topics in Identification and Neg

Pairing: Jeff/Annie (Though the entire Greendale Seven shows up throughout the story, and Jeff and/or Annie may be 'paired' with any of the others for story (not romantic) purposes, the main backbone of the story is with Jeff/Annie. There may be other ships that appear...I'm as of yet unsure, or even which would show up if they do.  
Spoilers: Through the finale of Season 4, and the events of my last story, Remedial Studies in 360-Degree Revolutions  
Word Count: 10,380  
Rating: PG-13 (language, though honestly...I'm trying to keep all language and content to the level you could see on the show itself. I have no problems with anything less restricted by network TV standards...it just feels more to me like the show while I'm writing it if I stick to that. So...naughty words and such will be pretty mild.)  
Disclaimer: If I owned Community, you'd all probably absolutely hate it.

Author's Notes: I take liberties with character's motivations and thoughts...but that's kind of the name of the game if you're going to write fan fiction. I try as hard as I can to stay within the limits of the developed character though. Also...this is incredibly long. I'm aware of this. I'm writing this as an AU 5th Season, with each chapter serving as an 'episode.' Basically...I'm writing the sort of thing that I want to read, which is a bit of a conceit. If ficlets are more your thing, you will hate this. Additionally, if awkwardly written fan fiction is not your thing, you will also hate this.

I need to mention a couple of things...first of all, I should make the timeline clear, with thanks to tvlover84 for pointing this out...My last story, which this is a sequel to, took place around...mid-late May. Jeff and Annie have been together since then. The first chapter of this story took place, well, three months later, when the fall semester started up. The next chapter was about a month after that, and then this one was about another month later...on Oct 31st. Thus far, my chapters have been taking place about a month apart, instead of a week apart like we're used to on the show. That will be a general rule for this story...but I can tell you already that there will be times that changes, and I'll do my best to make that obvious.

Secondly, I've been stuck on this chapter for awhile. But it all finally started clicking once I got a few pieces in place. But I wanted to make a special effort to get it done today, Oct 18th (technically 19th now...but I haven't gone to bed yet, so it's still 'the 18th' to me,) since this is when we got the announcement that Season 5 will be hitting airwaves on Jan 2nd. So, now I have a target date that I have to have this done by, or risk looking like a worse writer than ever when there's a REAL Season 5 to hold it up against!

Anyway, here is the Halloween episode/chapter for my ersatz 'Season 5,' and I know they aren't able to really do holiday stories this year, but I'm going to continue to do so, if/when it makes sense.

Extended A/N is after the story itself.

* * *

Halloween at Greendale Community College was always an…experience.

Not necessarily a bad one, of course. Just, usually. At least, that's how the members of "The Study Group," the so-called "Greendale Seven" usually thought of it.

Considering how the last four years worth of Halloween celebrations had gone, one could barely blame them. The first year, Annie put together a Dia de Los Muertos party, which Jeff ditched out on to woo Professor Slater, breaking Annie's heart, even before she was infatuated with him. And then, of course Pierce swallowed something he shouldn't have (never accept anything from Starburns,) and needed to be saved from some ridiculous chair and desk fort he somehow constructed around himself before it collapsed, and squashed the remaining years out of him.

The second year…well, no one could really remember much about the second year, but Shirley had quite the after-Halloween scare, when it looked like she may have been pregnant with Chang's illegitimate child. Fortunately, it was Andre's, but still...

Besides, the fact that they all got roofied was disturbing enough. Even Troy complained that he'd heard roofies usually meant 'butt stuff' and was disappointed to have missed out on that. In response, Jeff had sniped at him that 'it was some spiked punch, not dropped soap in a prison shower,' and that he probably shouldn't be excited for the idea of anything happening to him when he's not conscious.

Even still, if one had watched him carefully, they could have caught the appraising looks he gave to Shirley, Britta, and Annie. He wasn't leering at them, but rather checking for any signs of assault that may have gone unnoticed. Even though he knew he was far from an expert…he was really starting to worry and watch out for these friends of his. However, aside from the wounds that looked an awful lot like bite marks, he couldn't pick anything out. Besides, they all had those.

The third year was less disturbing in some ways…more so in others. When Britta revealed after an evening of scary story telling that she had found that one of them showed signs of serious mental illness, it made them all question each other, and briefly turn on each other. It really wasn't the fault of the stories themselves…they just helped reveal some deep, pent-up feelings they all had towards one another. Given that what had originally started as a simple (actually fake) Spanish study group had become family, support group, and closest friends to each of them meant that things were, and always would be, more complicated than an outsider would be able to see on the surface.

Of course, then Annie pointed out that Britta had run the tests through the machine backwards, and it turned out that instead of one of them possibly being slightly disturbed, all but one of them were. It was the sort of news that made them shrug and just decide to get on with life…with each deciding to assume they were the sole sane member of the group. It was the little things that got you through the day.

Finally, their fourth year, they didn't even make it to the party they had planned on attending. Pierce's real/fake crisis brought the evening to a head, and brought more than one tension to a boil, but the fact that Jeff had been willing to plan a two-person costume with Annie, albeit grudgingly, and then Annie had not only gotten it wrong (Jeff had wanted her to be a sexy ring girl to pair with his boxer…he knew she'd be able to pull it off amazingly. Instead, she'd misunderstood, and come as the girl from The Ring. Whether or not the misunderstanding was intentional on her part or not…never came up) but then as the evening had progressed, several of Jeff's daddy-issue buttons got pressed, which kind of killed his spirit.

Later on, after they had gotten together, Annie found out that the boxing gloves Jeff had worn as part of his costume had been his father's, and he'd used them half as a tribute, half out of confusion in his struggle to decide whether or not to contact his estranged dad. Given how well that had ended up working out, Annie felt even guiltier about how she'd acted that night.

It was that guilt that helped play into Annie's willingness to go with the costumes Jeff suggested for this year's holiday. They were doing a paired costume again, of course, now that they were officially together, and this year Annie was determined not to screw it up. She was a little uncomfortable with what Jeff had chosen, but figured that she owed him…and besides, she was pushing herself outside of the box. It was a growth opportunity.

It was this costume that was running through Jeff's head and making him smile when his phone started blaring an alarm from the nightstand. Blindly he reached out and snoozed the alarm, and with a gentle smile, he reached out and easily gathered Annie to him, snuggling her close and burying his nose in the top of her hair as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

When he realized he was kissing cotton, he opened his eyes to see a pillow in his arms where he expected Annie, and sat up abruptly, blearily looking around.

"Right…hotel room."

Jeff grabbed his phone once more and opened up his messaging app, which was still on his last conversation; Annie, naturally.

_Morning._

_Jeff! C'mon, two hour time difference! _

_Oh, please. You were already up._

_What makes you think that?_

_Because, I saw you moving the time on the automatic coffee maker two hours ahead. You were preparing for me to be gone, and you wanted to be up at the same time as me._

_Yeah, well, only because I knew you'd be bugging me first thing in the morning._

_Oh, please. You could just not respond. Admit it, you miss me._

_Fine! I knew I'd miss you and I got up early. I can spend the time getting a head start on studying anyway, so I figured it wasn't any major loss._

_Yeah…I knew you'd miss me._

_We already established that, Jeff! Are you going to make it back in time for the Greendale party? If you aren't going…I'm getting a different costume. I'm not wearing…that, without you there._

_You'd better not. And I should be able to make it. It all depends on how quickly I get things sorted out here._

_I wish you didn't have to do this…and hey! You haven't said that you missed me too! _

_;)_

_Jefffff!_

_Ok, Annie…I miss you. You know I do. Why else would I text you before I've even gotten out of bed?_

_:) Still wish you didn't have to do this._

_Yeah, but this is a big coup for me. The Colorado State Bar mid-year Convention is a pretty big draw…and while my boss, as this year's president, should be the one doing it…the fact that she trusts me to, well, given my reputation…_

_I know…it just sucks being apart._

_Yeah, but just think, the next time I come out here, you'll be with me…and like I promised, we'll register as Mr. & Mrs, so you can do your fantasy world all you want._

_Now that I live with you…I really don't need to, but ok! But hey, I've got to go get ready for the day._

_Yeah…me too. Love you, Annie._

_Love you too._

With that, Jeff tossed his phone to the side, and let out a heavy sigh. Rubbing his hands across his face vigorously, he looked around contemplatively for a few moments before resigning himself to his next actions, and reached back over to the nightstand for a notebook beginning to show some signs of wear. Before he opened it, he rubbed his thumb over a small, faded Hello Kitty sticker he'd put in the corner. As he did so, he remembered the incident with Annie that had prompted him to begin writing in a journal in the first place. The memories it sparked were why he put the silly sticker there to begin with.

He opened the front cover, skipped past the torn out page in the front, and began flipping through until he found an area to write in. No one would call him a regular writer…but when he had something he needed to work through, he'd often journal. The habit had picked up since he'd walked out on his therapist.

_I feel like I should begin an entry with 'Dear Diary,' but then I start wondering who will braid my hair while I write if I did that. Truth be told though, that's exactly what this is, isn't it? I'm writing in a diary…and while most teenage girls write about their parents and boys, I write about my dad, my mom, and a girl. And my friends, of course…but mostly the girl. _

_I blame you for this, by the way. And I blame her for you. I can't say I was HAPPY before…but at least I was…not like this. Now, I live with a woman, for the first time…I'm in the longest, most stable relationship I've ever been in, and I'm crazy in love with her. You know what that makes me? Vulnerable. I'm not a fan of being vulnerable, diajournalthing._

_I can't go back now though. If I lost Annie…if I lost any of my friends, but especially Annie, I flat out wouldn't know what to do. _

_I'm still mulling over my talk with Pierce last month. That alone is scary. The fact that I'd lie to Annie to have a secret dinner with Pierce, and then still be thinking about what he said a month later is terrifying…and then to have the scales tilted towards my actually taking his advice. Well, let's just say that everyone had better stock up for the apocalypse, because this is some Biblically terrifying stuff here. Maybe I'll ask Shirley if it's one of the signs._

_I can't help but think that Pierce is right though. As hard as it will be to do, following his advice is the right way to go about this. It's scary, and it won't be easy, and it could absolutely ruin everything…but I have to do it. Now the question is how and when._

_Ok, ridiculous journblogary…Winger out._

With that, Jeff slammed the book closed, and with a sigh of resignation, stood and made his way to the bathroom of his hotel room to shower, and get started with his day.

###

"So, all I'm saying is, it would be too epic to be beaten. We'd win the group entry for the Halloween costume contest for sure." Abed nodded at Troy's point in silent agreement, while the rest of the group looked on in revulsion.

"Troy…for the last time, we are NOT going as a seven man version of the Human Centipede!" Annie's rejection was as shrill as anyone had ever heard from her, causing Shirley to wince slightly.

"That's fine. We can do it as six people if Jeff doesn't make it back in time!" Troy looked on hopefully. Annie's response wasn't what he expected though.

"You completely missed the point, Troy. No."

Troy threw his arms forward into a sullen folded arm pout, with his head down. Abed reached out to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. Troy muttered something about being willing to sacrifice the awesome costumes the two of them had planned to do something even more awesome for the group.

"Oh, Troy…I understand you want us to do a group costume, but some of us already have costumes picked out. I got mine months ago when I got costumes for my boys and Andre that go along with the theme we're doing."

"Yeah, and Jeff and I picked ours out too. He'd be pretty upset if we had to switch now."

"I'm almost done making mine."

With that, everyone turned to Britta, Abed cocked an eyebrow at her.

"You're making your own costume this year? You usually just rent something that grants you some level of androgyny."

Britta's mouth fell open. "Abed!" she blurted in a scandalized tone.

Abed looked confused. "What? Did I say something wrong? Your costumes typically obscure your femininity without granting you masculinity in return. It's almost the reverse of classic productions, such as 'Some Like it Hot,' or even the early Tom Hanks vehicle, 'Bosom Buddies.' Almost…except like I said, where those were examples of men dressing up like women, you're a woman dressing up like nothing."

Everyone looked around the table nervously as Abed finished his analysis, trying to avoid looking at a fuming Britta.

"Abed! You obviously don't understand what I'm trying to accomplish with my Halloween costumes, and my crusade against pigeonholing women!"

Annie rolled her eyes. "Here we go…"

Britta turned her fury on Annie, who didn't seem to think that Britta would notice her in her rage, by her surprised reaction when Britta whirled.

"Oh, really, missy? You're the one who always pleads so innoc-" Britta was cut off by Pierce, timing as bad as always, and as desperate for attention as always.

"I bet no one can guess what I'm going to be this year!"

Shirley muttered, "I'm a bit frightened of what you're going to be every day, let alone at Halloween, old man."

"Ha! Scared! You should be scared! At least, the evil people should be scared!" Pierce cackled, seemingly thrilled that he had one up on the rest of the group. What exactly that may be, no one seemed to know. Britta pursed her lips thoughtfully, her anger at Abed's insensitivity forgotten for the moment in her morbid curiosity about Pierce's mystery costume.

"Pierce, how will you know who the so-called evil people, if anyone besides corporate bigwigs can truly be called evil, are?"

Pierce just chuckled at her, with an odd expression, like he was trying to arch a single eyebrow…and failing…it made him look rather demented instead of intimidating. "Ohhhh, Brittles…I'll know. I know the evil that lurks in the hearts of men!"

Abed perked up at this declaration. "Perfect choice, Pierce."

Pierce looked back at him appreciatively. "Ahhh, you get the reference, Ay-bed? Keep it quiet. Let the rest of these fools be surprised at the party."

Abed shot his fingerguns at Pierce in tacit acknowledgement of the secret, and then turned to Shirley. "So, Shirley, are you going to make it to the party, or are you taking your boys out trick-or-treating?"

Shirley smiled, "Oh, I'll be coming to the party. Andre wants to take the boys. He's still trying to make up for the years he missed. Make up to himself, that is…I wouldn't be so vindictive to hold those years against him. I'm a for-giv-ing soul."

Britta just rolled her eyes, muttering something about the definition of forgiving, and using guilt as a weapon. No one could make out exactly what she said, but Shirley caught enough of it to feel justified in shooting a glare her way. "Yeah…you just keep mumbling to yourself, hippie."

Britta steeled herself for another fight, when Annie jumped in. "Guys! Enough. For some reason…we're all on edge today. Can we just call it good, and we'll all see each other at the party?"

Everyone nodded and murmured their assent, and as they were packing up to leave, Troy turned to Abed.

"Annie calling an early end to the study group? Don't get me wrong…I love the idea, but that just seems strange."

Abed nodded at his best friend, "I agree. Dark clouds are approaching. We should go work on our costumes, so we can be ready to fight them when they arrive."

The two friends then performed their handshake, and headed out of the study room, when Troy had a sudden realization. "Abed?"

"Yeah?"

"How are we going to fight dark clouds when the character's we're dressing up as can't even fly?"

Abed considered it for a moment, then presented his solution. "Simple. Jetpacks."

"Awesome…" Troy intoned with a hushed breath.

###

Shirley giggled at the sight of all of her boys in their costumes. Even Andre had gotten into the spirit, and took photo after photo before kissing them all, and sending them on their way to go trick-or-treating. She then took the time to go get changed into her own costume, so she could head to Greendale's party, texting Andre to remind him to meet her after he was done with the boys, and dropped them off with her sister.

She couldn't keep from giggling at how much fun this all was. It was her last Halloween at Greendale, and she couldn't help but feel that it may end up being the best.

It couldn't be worse than the second year's anyway.

#

Down a dark street, a man in an orange jumpsuit ran as quickly as his legs would carry him, looking behind him frequently. He hopped over a bush in a long, raised planter, and ducked down behind it to catch his breath.

Wheezing, he slowly began to straighten up. He peered through the bottom part of the bush, where there was a gap between the bottom of the bush and the top of the planter. He saw no one following him, and as he relaxed, his tunnel-vision faded, and he realized people were streaming by him left and right, following the concrete paths to a central building.

#

Pierce stood in front of his mirror, examining his costume. He drew the edge of his trenchcoat up to his face like a cape, and whipped back and forth to watch it stream along with him, fluttering at the edges. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

"This is so perfect…I am going to be flat out the COOLEST guy there."

He grabbed his fedora and scarf, and made his way out of the room, to prepare to leave. On his way out, the device he'd placed by the doorway, propped against the frame, caught his eye.

"Can't forget to take that! Just in case…"

He kept up his self-indulgent, good-natured chuckling as he worked his way through his house, towards his garage.

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? I DO!"

#

At first, the man had been nervous at the sight of other people around him. He had bitterly muttered curses to himself about his sloppiness at not noticing that he was headed straight towards a busy community college campus. As he calmed down, he began to hear the chatter of the revelers around him.

"Dude's running from something."

"He's pretty small…maybe some big guys were picking on him."

"He's small enough to be a kid…Maybe they stole his trick-or-treat bag!"

"Costume sucks…doesn't even look half-way authentic."

When he realized that it was Halloween, and his odd attire wouldn't attract any additional attention…the man pulled himself up to his full height, and began walking, disappearing into the flow of the crowd.

#

Annie stood in front of the vanity in the master bathroom in her and Jeff's apartment. It was hardly the largest reason she was happy to have gotten together with him, and even moved in together…but the fact that he prioritized things like a good area for daily self-preparation when he went apartment hunting just made life with him that much easier.

After putting her costume on, and while she busied herself with her makeup, she took just a moment to turn on her phone, and look at the last picture message Jeff had sent before his plane took off.

There, on her screen, was the hotel confirmation showing reservations for Mr. and Mrs. Winger.

She smiled…it was such a silly little thing, it wasn't like they were actually married, but Jeff's willingness to go along with her game did wonders for helping her self-confidence.

If she managed to actually go out in this costume, it'd do even more for her self-confidence…maybe she'd be more daring about it once Jeff was home, and in his own disguise.

#

The man tried to keep moving through the crowd, never stopping for long, never letting his guard down. His head was constantly turning right and left, his eyes darting about, scanning the crowd.

Suddenly, he stopped, as if frozen. His gaze locked onto an individual. He muttered to himself; "Yes…he'll probably be perfect."

The man in the orange jumpsuit approached his target, a chubby, bespectacled man, forehead lightly beaded with sweat in his sloppy teddy bear costume and wildly perusing the refreshment table. As the man approached, the

"Dean Pelton! Was everything prepared in a peanut-free environment? I have a peanut allergy, and I'll go into anaphylactic shock!"

Another, heftier man, accompanied by a woman of similar size, both dressed as medieval fighters looked up from the offerings on the table. "Dude, Garrett…the Dean isn't even here right now. Plus, you should probably just be safe and avoid eating any of it if you might have a reaction."

Garrett whimpered. "I wanted a s'more."

"Aren't you allergic to chocolate too? I think Neil is right…just don't eat anything."

"Only milk chocolate! If it's at least 70% cacao, I should be ok!" Garrett sputtered.

"Yeah…I think its Hershey's." Neil rolled his eyes, and he and his female companion walked off into the crowd with their plates.

The orange jumpsuited man tapped Garrett on the back, and watched as the oversized teddy nearly jumped out of his costume as he whirled around. He beckoned at him to follow. Garrett did so, not even questioning.

#

Britta whistled to herself as she carried the two halves of her costume to her car. She heard a slosh coming from within it as she maneuvered it into her back seat, and she carefully ran her hands over it to reassure herself that there were no leaks.

"You've really outdone yourself this time, Britta…you're going to have the best costume there! It's fully functioning too!"

Britta hopped into her drivers seat, and started the engine. As she took off towards Greendale, she couldn't help continuing her self-congratulation.

"People are going to be asking me questions all night long! I can answer them, then give my opinion on their state of mind as a psych major too! Best Halloween ever!"

#

As the man in the orange jumpsuit prodded a stammering and nervous Garrett down the hall, no one at Greendale Community College noticed several black vans taking up positions at spots right outside the perimeter of the campus.

No one noticed that none of the vans bore license plates, or any other identifying markings.

No one noticed that all of the windows, even the windshield, on each van, was entirely blacked out, and impossible to see into.

Who would notice? There was a college party going on. Even if it was a Greendale party, and the most exciting part of it was how it was bound to be a disaster in one way or another, it was still something to do in this sleepy little city.

#

Troy and Abed stepped out of their rooms…well, Troy's room, and Abed's blanket fort. Since Annie had moved out to live with Jeff, they had turned her old room, which was originally their room, into the Dreamatorium 2.0. As Abed had stated, and Troy readily agreed, it was easier than moving all of their stuff back in there.

As they got their first look at each other in costume, both of them went wide eyed at the sight of the other. As one, they spoke.

"Nailed it!"

With that, they went into an impromptu dance that they would later describe as 'hip-hop/salsa fusion,' and 'totally badass looking,' but an onlooker, had there been one, would have compared it to 'a pair of flamingos having seizures.' Their neighbors downstairs just referred to it as 'those two boys being noisy again.'

After they wound their dance down, they turned to each other, and did their handshake. Troy broke the silence. "Well, shall we?"

"Two to beam down." Abed replied.

As they stepped out of the door, Troy couldn't help but squeal. His voice was so high that Abed was fairly certain he was almost at a pitch inaudible by the human ear. Almost…but not quite. "I'm so exccciiiittted!" Even though it wasn't to dog whistle levels, it certainly had an effect on the dogs in the other apartments on their floor, who started a cacophony of barking.

#

The black vans stationed around the Greendale campus at various points were silent and still. They were still completely unnoticed. The revelers were all focused on the party happening in the cafeteria.

As one, the back doors to each van popped open.

Three men, dressed identically in black combat gear, and carrying high powered semi-automatic weapons with orange-tipped barrels hopped out of the back of each van. They closed the doors after emerging, and each trio moved as a team towards the campus party, taking care not to cross paths with any of the other teams, and potentially alarm partygoers. Just a few of them together could be explained away as friends doing a group costume…too many of them might look suspicious. Still, the commanding officer had voiced some worries that their uniforms might be 'too real,' and not passable as a costume. They had taken precautions to try to look less deadly.

Hopefully no one would notice that the orange paint on the barrel tips of their weapons was still fresh, and somewhat drippy in a few cases.

#

Jeff's plane landed, and as he waited to taxi to the gate, he turned his airplane mode off on his cell phone. When his phone synced with the network to catch him up to anything he had missed while he was out of contact, a picture message from Annie streamed in. It was a teasing shot showing him a little bit of her in her costume.

Jeff raised his eyes to the sky, and deciding that since he wasn't outdoors, the roof would have to be good enough, thanked a god he wasn't sure that he believed in for giving him the strength to finally get over his issues to allow him to get together with this woman. He then texted Annie his reply.

"Holy crap! Can't wait to see it in person!"

Once Jeff had gotten his carryon bag, and disembarked, he practically ran to the taxi station, and after barking his destination to the driver, proceeded to trade playful texts with Annie about how they were actually getting a couples costume right this year.

#

The commando teams pushed their way through the party, earning a couple of snide words when they got too pushy or rough, but for the most part, were ignored.

After carefully, but stealthily scanning the party for their target, the teams determined they could not locate their target, and began their withdrawal to their respective vans, to plan their next move.

#

Pierce was the first one to the study room. He stood in the corner closest to the lightswitch, red scarf wrapped around his lower face, and fedora on his head.

Troy and Abed were the next to join him, Troy reached over to the lightswitch without looking, and just prior to the lights coming on, Pierce leaned in to rasp in his ear.

"I see the evil in your heart!"

After Troy's girlish screaming stopped, and Pierce's laughter died down, Abed took a few moments to look Pierce up and down, appraising his costume. As he did so, they were joined by Shirley and Britta.

"Great job, Pierce…you nailed the essence of classic radio character 'The Shadow,' as interpreted by the early 90's movie with Alec Baldwin."

"They made it into a movie?!" Pierce's confusion was evident on his face. Britta just rolled her eyes before turning to the two friends in matching outfits. "Wow, nice work, guys…you're Star Track…things."

Abed cocked an eyebrow at Britta before correcting her mistaken assumptions. "Star Trek. And I'm Lieutenant Commander Data, and Troy is Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge."

"I prefer to be called LeVar, thank you."

"But the character is named Geordi." Abed's brows knitted together in confusion.

"I told you I wanted to dress as LeVar Burton this year!"

"Fine. Set phasers to awesome."

The group then turned to Shirley. Pierce was as outspoken as always. "Shirley, your costume is easily recognizable, but I don't know what inspired you to wear it…I'd think there were lots of other options available."

As the rest of the group quickly looked over Shirley's tunic that appeared to be made of leaves, with green tights underneath, Abed nodded. "Pierce is right…what made you choose to come as the Jolly Green Giant? If anyone in the group has enough of an affinity for vegetables to dress as a mascot, I'd think it'd be Jeff, because of his health-conscious attitude. I'd say Britta, but she'd probably see that as selling out to a corporate master."

Britta nodded at this acknowledgement of her values, and held out a fist for Abed to bump. Shirley just stood there fuming until she couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm Tinkerbell, not the damn Jolly Green Giant!"

The rest of the group all chorused "OHHHHHHH" as one as the realization of their shared mistake dawned on them. Troy tried to change the subject quickly. "So, Britta…where's your costume?"

"It's right over here…but I need someone to help me get it on." Britta brought the two halves of her costume over, and let Troy and Pierce each pick up a half, and set them in place against each other with her in the middle, as Abed ran around it, latching the fixes on the sides. When it was all completed, they stood back and gave it a look over.

"I'm a Magic 8-Ball, guys!" Britta pointed to her back, "It's even got the little window in the back with the water and the little thingy inside that tells fortunes!"

Troy looked at Britta oddly, "You mean the thing that floats to the top when you turn the Magic 8-Ball upside down? And it's on your back?"

"Yup! Pretty cool, huh?"

Troy ran his hands across the back of his head for a moment before responding, sounding pained as he spoke. "Yeah, Britta. The coolest. Good job."

Abed got everyone's attention, keeping Britta from realizing her mistake. "Ok, Jeff and Annie are going to meet us at the party itself. Annie wanted to wait for Jeff, and he had to wait for his plane to land. Let's get going."

#

The black van's rear doors popped open again, and the trios of armed troops reemerged. This time, they were joined by a man in a business suit emerging from one of the vans along with them. He nodded at the team he had accompanied, and set off towards the party. One man from each team broke off to form a perimeter around the outside of the campus, taking care to reduce visibility from the street as much as possible. The other two members of each team converged on the suited man while he continued towards the party.

Once they were moving as a solid mass, on occasion, one to two men would break off to pursue another goal, with most heading towards building entrances.

The man in the suit entered the cafeteria and immediately approached someone who appeared to have some level of authority, though that was belied by the sneaky manner with which he kept turning around to try to avoid being seen taking nips from a flask.

He didn't bother with introductions. "I'm pretty sure you're not the man in charge, but I'm betting you could tell me who it is."

"Well now, I've either had more than I thought…or you Americans are getting even ruder than usual." His British accent was slurred very slightly, but the alcohol on his breath was incredibly strong. An experienced drinker, then. The man in the suit just raised an eyebrow at him. "Whaever. You're wanting Dean Pelton. He's the bald one over there 'dancing' in the French maid cossume."

"Seriously? He's the person in charge of this college?"

"That ought to give you an idea of the caliber of school we have here, mate."

The suited man muttered to himself as he walked towards Dean Pelton, soldiers trailing closely behind him, no longer concerned with being discreet.

"Well, this job just keeps getting more and more interesting."

#

"Run! Run! The dude has a gun and it looks real, but I can't be sure, but I'm going to run anyway!" Troy bellowed as he ran back towards the study room, Abed closely behind him, and Shirley and Pierce bringing up the rear.

They ran right past Britta, whose costume was slowing her down, and had told the group that she would meet them at the main party, and went straight back into the study room.

The man chasing them ignored the oversized Magic 8-Ball on the ground as he closed in on the group. Once he realized that the four people he was chasing had essentially backed themselves into a corner, he chuckled, and locked the door, effectively trapping the group. He then spoke into his radio.

"This is Five, reporting in from the library. I've got a group locked in…Study Room F. We need to make sure to let them out when we're done here."

With that, the armed man walked off, leaving the hallway empty. No one was there to see the holes in the sides of the Magic 8-Ball on the ground light up with a dim glow. No one was there to peek inside, and see Britta Perry, furiously texting Jeff and Annie about the situation that was happening on campus.

While she waited for a response, Britta kept performing her best imitation of a turtle.

#

"Dean Pelton?" Craig Pelton whirled around when he heard his name being spoken by a rather pleasant baritone voice.

"Why yes! Who do I have the honor of addressing?" Pelton tried to make himself come across as genteel as possible. The owner of the voice was as handsome as his voice suggested. Not Jeff Winger handsome…but still.

"Agent Bradshaw. I need to inform you that your campus is on lockdown."

"Lockdown?! What are you talking about, man?" All pretense of a calm demeanor went out the window at this news.

"I'm saying that no one in this cafeteria is allowed to leave until we've finished our job here."

"And what precisely IS your job, Agent Bradford?"

"Bradshaw," the man in the suit calmly corrected, "And we're tracking a very, very dangerous man that we believe has taken refuge on your campus grounds somewhere. We need to find him and detain him."

Pelton's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his skull. "Well, look…I'm going to make sure you know that I am VERY displeased about this turn of events! The bucket of apples to bob for is OUTSIDE! The party is ruined!"

With that, the Dean ran off crying, leaving a very confused Agent Bradshaw to shake his head and beckon to his team, heading for the exits.

After a few moments, the Dean went up to the DJ table, and picked up the microphone after stifling his sobs, and addressed the crowd.

"Well, I'm sure some of you saw what just happened, and I feel I have the responsibility to explain. I guess there's someone very dangerous locked in here with us, and those people in black with the big guns need to find him and make sure he doesn't get away. Until they do, we're all locked up. I guess…maybe they're watching to see if the man they're looking for kills someone? Then they'll be able to find him? I really don't know, I didn't ask that many questions."

The crowd began to murmur, with tension beginning to rise in the room, but Pelton continued with his speech.

"Anyway, I guess we can still have our party, so everyone just forget about all the bad stuff, and lets have some fun! Oh…and someone find Garrett…make sure he isn't hyperventilating or anything. The school's insurance will go up if he has another incident bad enough that he needs to go to the ER."

Neil, having had noticed Garrett's disappearance earlier, piped up. "Dean! No one's seen Garrett for about half an hour now!"

Pelton's face fell, and he muttered into the microphone, "Well, I guess our premiums are just going straight through the roof then. Thank you, Garrett."

#

Britta heard a knocking on the outside of her costume, and saw two pairs of legs outside of the hole designed for her head. She cautiously peeked out for a look and was relieved to see Jeff and Annie standing there.

"So…can you get mail service to this shell, Britta? I mean, do you have an official address or anything?"

"Shut up, Jeff." Britta sniped as she worked her limbs out of the other holes, with Annie helping to guide their way through when she got her leg stuck. Once she was completely out, the two of them hauled on her arms to help her stand upright. With relief, she launched herself at the two of them to try to pull them into a hug, but not being used to the radius of her 'new body,' she knocked them both flat.

"Sorry! I'd help you up, but…"

Annie just shook her head, "It's fine, Britta. You were just relieved to see us." Jeff grimaced. "Well, that's much nicer than what I was going to say, which was 'Ow, what the hell?'"

"Ignore him, Britta…you said everyone else is locked up?"

Britta bounced up and down, flapping her hands in frustration. "Yes! And I don't know where to get the keys! How do we get them out? Break the glass?"

Annie blanched at the idea of destroying school property. "I don't think we can do that…that's vandalism."

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Seriously, you guys? Breaking glass is vandalism, and covering a school with paint, or inciting a riot isn't? Besides…we don't need to break anything." Jeff walked over to the study room door, and twisted the latch on the lock.

Annie blinked and shook her head. "Wait…the latch for the lock is on the OUTSIDE of the door? That doesn't make any sense."

Jeff nodded, "Yes, but it IS Greendale. From that point of view, it makes perfect sense." Jeff pulled the door open and acknowledged each of their friends as they exited. "Creepy old man with a red scarf and a hat. Nerds. Shirley…what is UP with your costume?"

"What do you mean? What's wrong with it? And for that matter, what are you?"

For the first time, everyone stopped and took in Jeff's costume. He was wearing a crimson silk smoking jacket, black silk pants, and slippers. He grinned, and placed the stem of a pipe in his mouth, clutching it between his teeth at the corner.

"You guys know my rule for costumes. I pick something girls will like. This year, Annie and I decided to do a couples costume the right way…so, with both of those in mind, you get this. I'm Hugh Hefner."

Everyone nodded appreciatively, acknowledging that it made perfect sense, until suddenly, Britta had realization dawn.

"Wait…if Jeff's Hef, then Annie…" Jeff just grinned as everyone's gaze turned to his girlfriend, who unknotted the tie on her trenchcoat. As she slipped it off, Britta gasped. Troy let out a quiet "Dayum."

"Oh my God! How did I not notice the ears?"

Annie nodded, "Yes, Britta…I'm a Playboy bunny. It's no big deal."

"Annie, you don't have to do this for him! Reclaim your womanhood!"

"Britta…how is this denying my womanhood? Besides…it's a fun costume when Jeff's dressed as Hef. It's a theme."

Jeff turned back to Shirley, who was fuming at him silently. "So, Shirley…I still don't get why you're the Jolly Green Giant." That one sentence was enough to get her to explode. "I'm Tinkerbell, you smoking jacket wearing pervert! How could you corrupt our Annie like this?"

Jeff rolled his eyes at her. "Shirley…you DO know Annie and I live together, right? We have a single bedroom? One bed? Which we both sleep in? I'm sure you're getting the implications here." Jeff's voice dropped to a stage whisper, "I'm saying I don't have to get her to wear a revealing costume in order to get a look at her. I see her naked all the time."

Shirley looked ready to lunge at Jeff when Annie stepped in. "Ok, everyone, relax. Jeff didn't corrupt me…I went along with this willingly, and quite frankly…this costume covers more than a two-piece swimsuit. And besides, I'm even wearing it with leggings. You can't tell because the lights aren't on, but I'm not dumb…it's the end of October in Colorado, I'm not running around with bare legs. So, please, give me SOME credit here. I'm a big girl, I wouldn't let Jeff push me into something I wasn't ok with."

Jeff looked around, and when it was clear no one else was going to say anything, he nodded. "Ok, then. Let's get moving. I don't think any of us want to stick around here."

The group started towards the exit, with Shirley and Britta still occasionally shooting venomous glares at Jeff.

#

The man in the orange jumpsuit was seething with rage. "What do you mean you don't know computers that well? Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You're an obvious computer nerd!"

Garrett gulped loudly. "Well, sometimes when I'm playing Solitaire, I've found that there's a menu option that lets me take back my last move. That's kind of like cheating…which is a kind of hacking, right?"

"NO!"

Garrett's captor pulled at his own hair as he paced back and forth in the small room he had holed himself and Garrett up in.

"Look, you sweaty bear nerd…I refuse to believe that you can't hack into a simple bank account. Just do that, and move the funds that I told you to, and then you can go…free as a bird."

Garrett looked around nervously. "What if I can't do that?"

A sinister look spread across the man's face "Then I won't be very happy with you. I've caused a lot of problems for people in the past when I wasn't happy."

Garrett's eyes grew wide, and he turned back to the computer, staring at the screen blankly

#

The Study Group exited the library, and made their way across campus, ducking the armed guards wherever they spotted them.

It didn't last long.

"Stop right there!" Jeff and the rest of the group all froze in midstep, Britta wobbling off balance slightly. The group held perfectly still as they were approached by Agent Bradshaw, who quickly introduced himself after barking some orders into his radio. One of his troops joined him shortly.

"This is the group I locked up in the library. At least…four of them are. Not sure where the other three came from."

"Thank you…that will be all. Back to your patrol." Bradshaw then turned to the group. "So…if you were locked up, how did you escape?" Jeff waved his hand for attention. "Oh, she and I" he said, motioning at Annie, "weren't locked up in the first place. We let them out."

"How did you keep from being locked up when my men did their sweep?"

Jeff shrugged, "We weren't on campus yet to get swept?" This answer made Bradshaw go red in the face. "How did you evade my patrols when you got on campus? How did you know where to go to let your friends out?"

Now Britta chimed in. "Oh, that was me! I hid inside of my costume, and coordinated with them." The agent focused on Britta. "What are you, anyway? A giant pool ball?" Britta rolled her eyes, "Duh doy, no. I'm a Magic 8-Ball! It's even a working model. Go ahead, ask me a question."

Troy groaned, "Here we go…" Jeff turned and quietly muttered back to him, "Oh, you noticed the glaring problem with her costume too?" Troy nodded at him and Jeff turned back around, smirking.

Bradshaw, stone-faced while Britta looked at him expectantly, finally broke. "Fine. Here's one…am I going to punish all of you for hindering the apprehension of my target?" Satisfied that she'd gotten a question, Britta turned around to present the window where answers would appear to the man in the black suit.

"Ok…all I see is a window full of blue water. Where's the little thing that tells me the answer that I already know, which is, 'Signs Point to Yes?'"

Jeff called from back in the group, "Hey, Britta…if you want your costume to work…you're going to have to lie down on your stomach. That's the only way the little answer cube will float to the top so it's readable."

Agent Bradshaw watched as Britta's face fell as she realized her blunder. "Dammit…I Britta'd my own costume."

"Enough!" Bradshaw had finally run out of patience. "I don't know who you people are, other than a bad Hef impersonator and his bunny, two nerds from Star Trek, a failed pool ball costume, and the Jolly Green Giant! Oh…and The Shadow…yours is actually pretty good."

"Bad Hef impersonator?!"

"I prefer to be thought of as 'LeVar,' not just a Star Trek nerd."

"Jolly Green?!...let me at him!"

Bradshaw continued fuming. "Again, I don't know who you are, and I don't really care. All I know is that so far, my men have failed to find our target, and time is of the utmost importance. Therefore…you have two options. Help us in finding him, or face the consequences."

"As a certified psych major, between your question you asked my 8-Ball self, the two options you just offered us, and your overall attitude, my analysis is that you're upset, and there's something you aren't telling us."

Jeff turned and whispered in Annie's ear. "Annie…I think this guy is serious. These guys are holding real guns. I need you to rein in Britta, and I'll work on negotiating with the guy so we can all get home safely." Annie nodded at him, knowing that despite what anyone who overheard would think…he was giving her the far tougher job. She silently mouthed a 'love you,' to him, which he mirrored.

"Hey, Britta…can you come over here? I wanted to talk to you about a dream I had the other night. I'm not sure what it meant." Jeff grinned as he watched Britta make a glee filled little jump as best she could while in her costume, and with a quick, excited squeak, wobbled her way over to Annie. Troy and Abed turned their heads backward to look at Jeff who was standing directly between them to the rear, grinning like an idiot.

"What can I say, boys? She's a keeper for sure. My girl's a certified genius." Jeff strode forward between the two younger men. "Bradshaw…let's talk here. Who's your target, and how much time do we have?"

The agent looked Jeff over. "30 minutes, tops. And the target is Leonard "Lenny" Balsam. He's a disloyal, spite-filled little man, who's proven to be a serious crook. My men have searched the entire campus for him. We know he's here…we saw him disappear onto the campus, and established a perimeter, but never saw him leave. We've looked everywhere though."

Jeff cocked an eyebrow. "Obviously there's somewhere you haven't checked…we just need to figure out where. What else can you tell us about him?" He could overhear Annie a few meters away with Britta "And then there was Jello everywhere." "Hmmm...that's very symbolic. What flavor was the Jello?" "Uhhh…I'm not sure. Does it matter?" "Ohhh, Annie…poor, innocent, naïve little Annie." Britta let out a condescending sounding chuckle, "It matters a lot. Jello flavors are rich in their subconscious meanings and symbolism. I'm shocked you didn't know that, but I guess not everyone has taken the study of the depths of the human mind, and the psychological arts as seriously as people who've given their lives to becoming certified psych majors."

Jeff rolled his eyes and refocused on Bradshaw, Annie had Britta locked down just fine. Bradshaw appeared to be thinking, but suddenly launched into a list of character traits. "Balsam is short…when I called him a little man, I meant it. He's about the size of your girlfriend over there. He's also sensitive about it. Just the sight of someone as tall as you runs the risk of sending him into an apoplectic rage. He's going to want to be somewhere with a computer…to try to get access to the accounts he moved a bunch of money into. We haven't been able to touch them, with the Feds watching them and all."

Jeff keyed into the last sentence. "Wait…aren't you the Feds? You're government agents, right?"

Bradshaw seemed caught off guard. "Uhhh, no. We're not Feds, strictly speaking. I mean, yeah, we're with the government, but a different agency. ..you know how things get with territoriality, and jurisdiction and whatnot, right?"

Jeff nodded uncomfortably. "Sure…right. What else?"

"Well, he hates discomfort in any way, like being too hot or too cold. He likes a very specific temperature band. If he were outside right now, he'd be miserable."

Troy's attention was immediately piqued. He jumped into the conversation. "I know where he is." Pierce's eyebrows furrowed. "What? No, you don't. You're just a kid. I was about to say that I know where he is."

Troy turned to him. "Really? Where is he? How do you know he's there?"

Pierce glared back at him. "Because I'm The Shadow, and I know where evil lurks, and where men keep their hearts and their lurking!"

"Pierce, you're babbling. I'm betting Troy has a better idea than you do here." Jeff shook his head at the older man.

"Says you! I'll show you!" with that, Pierce ran off towards a cluster of buildings. Jeff just shook his head. "Just let him go. He's harmless." Bradshaw nodded and got on his radio. "There's an old man running around in an all black suit, with black fedora, and red scarf. Don't impede his progress unless he tries to leave campus, or you're in danger from his actions."

All eyes turned to Troy, with Britta and Annie rejoining them, as Britta finished her psychoanalysis of Annie, "So, you see, you're feeling a great deal of guilt for not helping me with my notes for psych classes. That's what that dream was all about." "Britta…I'm not even in those classes." "Hey, I don't control your subconscious. I didn't say it made sense that you felt guilty about it. So the sooner you start going to my classes and taking good notes for me, the sooner you'll get a good night's sleep."

Jeff shook his head, and tried his best to ignore Britta. "So, Troy…where are we going?"

"Isn't it obvious? Air Conditioning Repair School Annex…"

Jeff smirked. "Could it really be so easy? Lead the way, Mr. Burton." Troy's face lit up at the bestowal of what he felt was the 'correct name' to call him while in costume, and started walking towards the building that housed the AC school. Britta waddled behind, and started falling further and further behind.

"It's ok, guys! I'll catch up! You go on ahead."

#

As the group entered the AC Repair School, Troy reminded them of the room that defined 'room temperature.' Annie cocked an eyebrow. "But wouldn't keeping a computer in there make it warmer?"

Troy shrugged. "The computer isn't in THAT room. It's in the control room for that room. There's a thermostat in there…but that isn't enough for the precise calculations to keep the room at the perfect temperature when you start adding people and other things that can affect it…like kegs."

Shirley got a concerned expression on her face. "So, wait…from what you've described, going in this room is almost like a religious experience. Now are you telling me you AC fools have keggers in there?"

"What can I say? We like to party."

Troy slowly led them down a hall until they reached a door with a simple keypad. They knew from his stories that the room itself required a breathprint to enter, which, as the Truest Repairman, he would have access to, but the control room only required a four digit code.

"Ok…if he's in here, there's a chance that entering the code may be loud enough to startle him. We need to be ready for that." Troy's caution was unwarranted through, because they soon heard a voice that they assumed was Lenny shouting loud enough to block out any keypad noise, and an unidentified whimpering. Troy took the opportunity to punch in the code, and slightly push the door open.

Jeff asked in a hushed whisper, "What do you see, Troy?"

"He's a little guy, just like the agent said…and he's got a giant bear sitting at a computer."

"Who do you think the bear is?" Annie's voice had a tone of concern in it. They then heard a panicked, choked shouting. "I already (_gasp)_ told (_gasp)_ you! I'm not (_gasp)_ a hacker, (_gasp)_ and I really need (_gasp)_ my inhaler!"

Jeff winced. "Dammit…it's Garrett. And it sounds like he can't wait for us to get a plan together. Then again…it's not like any of us are armed agents with the training to put together a plan anyway. So…let's go!"

With that, Jeff shoved into the door, and the five friends burst into the room, with several of them, including Jeff, falling on the floor, due to the sudden lack of balance when Jeff shoved the door they were leaning on inward.

"Who the hell are you people?" Lenny turned around and asked snidely. "Come to rescue your little friend here?"

Jeff shook his head as he scurried backwards to a sitting position on one side of the doorway, "No. I mean, yes. We're here to rescue him, but we aren't exactly friends. I mean…he's a good enough guy, but we don't hang out or anything."

Annie muttered to Jeff "You might want to close the deal here, Jeff. You're rambling…"

Jeff nodded, "Right. Anyway, my point is, he's telling you the truth. Garrett isn't a computer nerd, or a hacker…he's just a wreck of a person. I understand that they look similar a lot of the time. Anyway, just give him back his inhaler."

Lenny began a slow walk towards Jeff and the group. "Really? You want me to just give it back to him when he hasn't given me anything? I've asked for a few simple things…I just want access to my money. He wants access to his lungs. Seems like a fair tra-"

With that, Lenny's tirade cut off mid-word, as the large, round shape of an 8-ball appeared in the doorway, with a blond head topping it. "Hey guys! Told you I'd catch up!" Britta was looking at Abed, who was sprawled on one side of the door, and didn't notice Jeff's legs across the entryway. The trip that resulted was nothing less than spectacular. The moment the front of her costume impacted the floor, Britta instinctively ducked into her costume. The result was similar to when she was hiding from the armed men earlier. Only this time, she was in motion.

Lenny's eyes grew wide as the Britta-ball began to pick up speed, headed directly at him. The ensuing crash knocked him flat, and the inhaler he held in his hand flew free to land at a grateful Garrett's feet.

Following closely behind Britta was Agent Bradshaw. He stopped to stand directly above Lenny, and looking down, gave him a sinister smile.

"Looks like you've seen better days, Lenny."

The small man groaned. "Dammit, Vinny…I can make up for scr-" Agent Bradshaw interrupted him, "Lenny…I think you need to shut up now. Now…my boys and I are going to take you away, and we're going to deal with our differences like grown men."

Britta, having been unsnapped from her costume, and enjoying a greater range of motion, was enjoying her adrenaline rush from the recent happenings. At least, that was the only way Jeff and Annie could explain her pro-law enforcement attitude in what she said next when they were discussing it later. "Yeah! The feds are taking you back to prison, you bad man, you!"

Lenny laughed bitterly, "The feds? Vinny…they think you're feds? That's a riot." Bradshaw looked around nervously and motioned to one of his men, who came forward with a strip of tape to put over Lenny's mouth. Before he could be silenced though, he made one last plea to the study group. "Don't let them take me! You're signing my death warrant if you do! I'm a dead man if I go with them! A dead man!"

Shirley was the only one who turned to watch as Lenny was dragged out of the room, grunting and moaning through his taped over mouth. "Criminals will say anything to try to get good people to step in and aid them." Still, she crossed herself.

The group stood there for a few moments, just pondering the night's events, and then, as one, turned to leave. Jeff and Annie held hands, fingers entwined with each other, slightly behind the rest.

"You were a good sport tonight, even though that's a little bit of a racy costume. Thanks for indulging me." Jeff quietly muttered down to her, so no one else could hear how soft Annie had made him. She responded in a similarly quiet tone.

"Don't even worry about it, sweetie. It was kinda fun to dress up all exciting like this. Besides, it's Halloween, and you make a smoking jacket and slippers look good." Annie winked up at him, and he ground to a halt, looking at her very seriously.

"Annie, I make EVERYTHING look good. We could switch outfits, and I'd look incredible."

"Oh, really? Maybe that's what I'll make you do when we get home."

Jeff looked at her like she had just sprouted a second head. "Wait…Annie, seriously?"

She quirked a grin at him before she started walking off without him. "Nah. I've got much more fun ideas for what you can wear to pay me back."

As Jeff jogged to catch up with her, his mind raced about the horrible possibilities that Annie could have in store for him.

Meanwhile, Pierce had gone to the top of the tallest building Greendale had. Three stories. He pulled out the portable zip line launcher he had grabbed on his way out of his house, and took aim across the small street running through Greendale allowing access from lot to lot. A small pneumatic hiss escaped as he pulled the trigger, and the line extended down to the ground floor, suction cup adhering to a window.

Pierce muttered to himself. "This'll take perfect timing, Shadow. There's our man…a small, weasely little creature. Ready…and go!"

With that, Pierce grabbed the handles meant to allow him to ride the line downward without friction burning his hands. He watched as the man on the scooter continued to get closer and closer to his line, as he drew closer to the ground.

Just prior to interception, he shouted, "The Shadow knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men!"

Chang barely looked up in time for Pierce to plow into him, lifting him completely off the scooter, and then cushioning Pierce's impact as he was sandwiched between the old man and the window the zip line was attached to.

Chang's scooter wobbled off, riderless, and crashed, while Chang lay on the ground, groaning in pain.

"That's for ditching me at the carnival. I thought we were going to be friends!"

Pierce caught sight of the study group standing and watching him, and jogged over to join them.

"Hey guys, I caught the bad guy!"

They all just shook their heads, and wandered towards their vehicles. Shirley was grumbling about how she didn't get to spend any time with Andre. Troy was complaining that no one got to see his awesome LeVar Burton costume, Britta was irked that the costume that she had supposedly 'Britta'd' had saved the day not once, but twice, and she wasn't getting thanked enough for it.

Jeff and Annie just quietly held each other as they walked to Jeff's Lexus. Jeff's large hand rubbed her back up and down, paying special attention when it rose high enough to get her often-tense neck muscles. Annie for her part had slipped her hand under his smoking jacket, to better get at the small of his back.

#

Later that night, Troy and Abed sat in their TV chairs in their pajamas. Troy had a giant bowl of cereal, and Abed just had the remote in his hands. As they flipped through the channels looking for cartoons, they stopped briefly on the evening news, something they never did.

_"still looking for escaped convict Leonard Balsam, who escaped a federal prison earlier today. Balsam was convicted on several accounts of fraud related tangentially to the global financial crisis several years back, as well as racketeering, and money laundering. He was a known associate of former mob enforcer Vincent Bradshaw, who has recently been believed to have struck out on his own, in an attempt to become a new kingpin of his own family. Balsam turned state's evidence on Bradshaw to get a reduced sentence, but Bradshaw was never convicted."_

Abed turned to Troy, who was staring wide-eyed at the TV, spoon frozen an inch from his mouth, cereal and milk dribbling from his slack jaw into the bowl. "Abed?"

"Yeah, Troy?"

"I think you should change the channel now."

"I think you're right."

"We didn't see that. We never saw anything. Everyone knows we don't watch the news."

"Nope."

"The feds took the bad guy away. And now we're going to watch cartoons."

"I love cartoons."

"Me too, buddy. Me too."

* * *

A/N: Ok...I had a lot of fun writing this one, and especially picking out the costumes that I felt would fit the characters without outright Flanderizing them. For the curious, at one point, Andre was going to show up...and I think Malcolm Jamal-Warner could rock a Peter Pan costume like it's no one's business. My wife suggested Data and Geordi for Abed and Troy...and I loved it, but I wanted to take it one step further, given Troy's almost fanatical love of LeVar Burton.

Shirley was a tough one...because I absolutely love how she dresses as something, and is always mistaken as something less flattering. It just took some time to figure out what that could be.

Jeff and Annie...were nearly David Beckham (again!) and Posh Spice. I decided that Hef and a bunny were more interesting in the end, and it gave Annie a fun way to assert herself amongst Shirley and Britta, who would both have issues with her costume that didn't really make sense. Pierce as The Shadow was simple, and one of the first things I decided on, since he has a tendency to dress as a heroic/alpha type from decades previously. Plus, it offered the opportunity for some fun physical humor. Britta, just came to me all of the sudden...and I loved it as soon as it did.

This was originally going to be a story of semi-mistaken identity. The bad guy who captured Garrett was going to be a small-time con, who'd been framed/mistaken/whathaveyou for one of the central parties behind the financial crisis. As the story evolved, I decided that a couple of mobsters who had a story of enmity between them was more fun, especially as you get the sense that Bradshaw isn't exactly what he claims to be.

Things like the Bar Conference that Jeff was helping to plan, etc that came up earlier, WILL come up again. They aren't just fluff. And speaking of fluff...that's what the next chapter is. 100% pure, feel good fluff. It's totally mushy and romantic to a sick level. I mean, it's sweet enough that your teeth will rot out of your head reading it. Absolutely no angst in it at all. Nope.


	4. Intermediate Studies in Fractured Cardia

Pairing: Jeff/Annie (Though the entire Greendale Seven shows up throughout the story, and Jeff and/or Annie may be 'paired' with any of the others for story (not romantic) purposes, the main backbone of the story is with Jeff/Annie. There may be other ships that appear...I'm as of yet unsure, or even which would show up if they do.  
Spoilers: Through the finale of Season 4, and the events of my last story, Remedial Studies in 360-Degree Revolutions  
Word Count: 8,872  
Rating: PG-13 (language, though honestly...I'm trying to keep all language and content to the level you could see on the show itself. I have no problems with anything less restricted by network TV standards...it just feels more to me like the show while I'm writing it if I stick to that. So...naughty words and such will be pretty mild.)  
Disclaimer: If I owned Community, you'd all probably absolutely hate it.

Author's Notes: I take liberties with character's motivations and thoughts...but that's kind of the name of the game if you're going to write fan fiction. I try as hard as I can to stay within the limits of the developed character though. Also...this is incredibly long. I'm aware of this. I'm writing this as an AU 5th Season, with each chapter serving as an 'episode.' Basically...I'm writing the sort of thing that I want to read, which is a bit of a conceit. If ficlets are more your thing, you will hate this. Additionally, if awkwardly written fan fiction is not your thing, you will also hate this.

Just a couple of things before the story.

First of all, my apologies to the guest who didn't like the last chapter, I'm truly sorry. I don't blame you. It was long and wordy, but that's kinda my thing. The mobster itself, I needed a plot device...and he proved to be an interesting writing exercise. Sorry he wasn't as interesting a reading exercise. I get the strong suspicion he was far more 'alive' in my head than appeared in written form. Thus is the conceit of the writer...we think everything this as clear to others as it is to us.

Next...at the end of the last chapter, I promised this would be amazing, sunshiney, fluffety fluff. I had thought the sarcasm was clear, but I'm not so sure now. So, I'll just say, on a scale of truth to lie...that one was a big fat whopper of a lie. This is about the furthest thing from fluff, and is actually angst up to the eyeballs. My apologies to my fellow J/A shippers and anyone who came expecting fluff.

Finally...I've mentioned on my Tumblr before that I have a bad, bad habit. I don't save my work frequently. I write, and then I sleep my laptop to take it elsewhere, where it often turns out to NOT resume, but rather to restart. And Autosave, despite being set to every 10 minutes, seems to believe it's actually set to "fuck you, save more frequently." This means I tend to lose chunks of work. One of those was a fairly critical piece of a monologue later on in the chapter that without which, had a tiny, but noticeable loophole. I rewrote this, and this gap has now been plugged. I also have started saving more often.

Extended A/N is after the story itself.

* * *

**Three Months Later: Intermediate Studies in Fractured Cardiac Muscles  
**

_Friday night_

It was raining. Hard.

Of course it was. It fit Jeff's mood perfectly. He thought back to his second year, and the sudden appearance of a professor he'd made up to teach a class he'd made up, and his response when Annie had expressed her shock at his appearance.

"Maybe I'm a god. I've denied the signs for too long." He muttered the words as he recalled the debacle, considering now that perhaps, he really was a god.

How else did you explain the pouring rain, after several days with no signs of clouds? Today, of all days. It just fit too well to be believed.

He flopped back on the couch, sitting in total darkness. The only lights in his apartment came from small LCD indicators on electronic devices. The majority of the illumination originated outside. The streetlights offered some brightness, as did the lights of the city reflecting off of the clouds, and the moon making them glow, like a celestial backlight.

He raised the tumbler of tequila to his lips, taking a long draw, and forcing himself to swallow it. As he finished, he growled and hawked, trying to get the taste out of his mouth and throat.

It didn't do any good. The taste was there to stay. It had made its way deeper into his throat than his conscious muscle control allowed, and up into his sinuses. He thought he'd gotten used to the flavor a few hours ago, but the aversion was back again.

He'd been drinking since that morning, and wasn't about to stop. Not yet. Not until he could forget.

He should have known.

This was how his life went. Just when things were looking to be settling into a level of perfection, there would be a curve ball, and Jeff Winger never could hit a wicked curve ball. Throw a straight pitch, and he'd knock it out of the park, but a curve ball would strike him out every damn time.

Hell, he didn't even like baseball. Or sports, for that matter. He developed an appreciation for soccer because it was stylish, and it reminded him a little bit of his boyhood passion for foosball.

Growing up without a dad meant that he didn't really get a lot of the traditional 'father/son' activities, like learning to love sports.

It also meant that Jeff Winger never learned how to deal with curve balls, whether literal, or metaphorical.

Jeff took a moment of self-indulgence to think back on several of the curve balls he'd failed to connect with when he'd been at bat…and the results.

Getting caught and exposed as faking his bachelor's…he hadn't handled that well, but he acknowledged (now) that he deserved it. It had been the impetus that got him to Greendale though…and so much good had come of that. He had an actual group of friends now. Friends so close they were family…and more.

He'd tried to start a fake study group to get into Britta's pants. She and Abed had foiled that. He definitely took awhile to get used to that one, and at first, didn't deal with it well at all.

He hadn't expected to feel such burning jealousy when he found out that Annie was dating Vaughn. Why didn't he care nearly as much when Britta dated him? It bugged him, sure…but he got over it much more easily, in the name of being a good friend. Why hadn't he been able to let go of Annie as easily? He had explained it away as dislike for Vaughn, and protectiveness of their 'innocent Annie,' but that wasn't all it was, was it?

He chuckled out loud, bringing himself more to reality from his dredging the depths of his intoxicated brain. "No…it was something more than that." He was surprised he managed to keep from slurring, with how much he'd had to drink. Maybe he was slurring and he couldn't even tell.

He fell silent again, back to staring out the window, and took another slug of tequila. He was getting back to the point where he really couldn't taste anymore, which was good. It meant the loathed agave spirits would go down easier. He fell back into reminiscence.

There was the curve ball Annie threw at him when she'd kissed him outside of the dance he'd escaped from Britta and Slater's declarations of love at. Thinking back, that was a snapshot in his memory that had very mixed connotations for him. On one hand…he had felt something he thought he'd never feel again. In the recent years, and even more so in the recent months, he'd realized that he was feeling the faintest glimmerings of love for this young woman. On the flip side, he'd dealt with the whole thing very poorly, ignoring Annie all summer long, and devastating her with a game of one-upsmanship with Britta once they got back to school.

Jeff realized he could spend all night doing this, and that most of the incidents life had thrown at him, and especially ones where he'd screwed up his handling of them, would probably involve Annie. Not that she was innocent, by any means…she caused a lot of trouble all on her own, but that just meant that neither one of them could be excused.

Then, of course…there was the day of the biology final. Pierce and Shirley decided to get stupid about who would sign the stupid contract for the stupid sandwich shop, and then it ended up going to stupid fake court, where Shirley needed a stupid fake lawyer.

Unfortunately, Pierce brought a real lawyer.

Jeff had thought he had handled that one ok for awhile. Alan got fired by Pierce, and basically told Jeff he wouldn't get his job back, but then once he graduated, he just decided to work for a different firm…and actually in a different specialization.

"Damn you, Alan." Jeff muttered under his breath.

His reverie was broken by the sound of the apartment door opening. He didn't even turn, he knew that light tread across the floor without needing to look.

"Hey." Annie said, sitting down in a chair, facing him at an angle. Jeff just nodded and grunted.

"Do you want to talk? Y'know…about today?" Annie wasn't wasting any time.

Jeff forced himself to turn his gaze away from the rainy window, to meet her eye-to-eye. Big mistake. When he saw her face, eyes still slightly puffy, streaks down her face that he wasn't sure were from tears or the rain, he nearly broke his resolve.

"Not really, no. What is there to talk about?"

Annie wrinkled her nose, and for the first time, looked down to the glass in his hand.

"Jeff, how drunk are you?"

"On a scale of 1-10?" She nodded in response. "I'm roughly an Ian Duncan…"

Her brows knotted in concern. "Jeff…you hate tequila."

"Yep."

She squinted her eyes shut in pained confusion. "So then why does it look like you've been trying to put a serious dent in the global supply of it all on your own? You've got scotch…don't you just keep the tequila for other people?"

"Don't want to waste the scotch, just want to get wasted." Jeff's eyes were starting to hang a bit heavy.

Annie pulled the glass away from him. "Ok, you've had enough." He didn't fight her authoritarian actions. She came back from the kitchen where she placed the tumbler in the sink.

"Anyway, I just came by to grab a few things, then I'll head out. You should get to bed."

Jeff's alertness shot back up to high levels at this news. "Where're you stayin?"

Annie just shrugged. "Don't know. I'll find somewhere. I'm sure I can crash on Britta's couch, or at my old place with Troy and Abed. Last resort…Shirley has a spare room."

Jeff instinctively reached out to grab her hand. As soon as he did, and felt her hand tighten on his in response, he let go like he had been burned. Still, he proceeded with what he wanted to say.

"Don't go, Annie. You can stay here. This is still your place. I'll take the couch, you take the bed."

Annie nodded. "Hey…I'm going to go change…then I'm coming back out. If I'm going to stay here, we need to talk some things out. Understand?"

Jeff nodded mournfully. That was the last thing he wanted.

As Annie closed the bedroom door behind her, Jeff allowed his mind to wander to earlier in the day, the first time someone besides him had come through that front door and found him on the couch drinking.

_Friday, 3:27 pm_

Jeff had just raised the first shot of tequila to his lips when he heard a knock on his front door. He didn't bother getting up to answer it, and took his shot.

He poured himself another, and the knock repeated. He still didn't get up.

Finally, just as he was staring at the small glass of vile liquor, willing it to transform into scotch, but not wanting to actually waste his good scotch on this kind of drinking, he heard the door open, and the person who had been knocking invite themselves in and sit down in a chair across from him.

"Hello, Abed."

"Hey Jeff!" the younger man said brightly, which seemed strikingly dissonant with Jeff's mood, and the events of the day. He then sat there silently, looking at Jeff with expectation clear on his face, like he was waiting to be invited to talk.

Jeff took his second shot, and after grimacing, gave Abed his full attention.

"Ok, Abed…lay it on me."

"Oh! Right. I was just thinking, since Annie moved in here with you, we don't get to see you guys nearly as much as we used to."

"Abed, we still get together just as often as we used to…more now, maybe."

"Anyway, since we don't get to see you as much, Troy and I were thinking of having a dinner party at our place. Troy and I are even thinking of getting dates, so it can be a couple thing."

Jeff boggled at Abed, was it possible he hadn't understood what had happened earlier, or even what Jeff had just said? It was like he was ignoring it.

"Abed, that sounds great…and by great, I mean not great at all. I don't really want to babysit you and Troy while you guys decide if you want to go through with an actual dinner party, or if you'd abandon the rest of us at the table while you went and played make-believe."

Jeff knew it was harsh, but he wasn't in any sort of mood for game playing today. Abed seemed not to even hear him though.

"So, we can count on you and Annie to come, then? Do you think you could bring a salad?"

Jeff closed his eyes tightly, and his lips moved slightly as he silently counted to ten. He then reopened his eyes and met Abed's gaze straight on.

"Abed…Annie and I broke up. We aren't a couple anymore. So, no…we can't bring a salad. We can't come to your little couples dinner party because that status doesn't fit us anymore. Try Shirley and Andre instead. Hell…I'm sure even Pierce could find a hooker if you need someone to fill those seats."

Abed went silent, his gaze blank and unfocused.

"Abed?"

"Abed!"

"ABED!"

Nothing.

Jeff flopped backwards on the couch, shaking his head. He had no clue what to do in a situation like this, and the tequila was starting to nip in on the edges of his sobriety.

After several minutes of watching Abed watch nothing, once Jeff had pondered whether or not Abed would go stiff enough to be carried out on a handtruck if someone pulled him into a standing position, Abed suddenly snapped back to reality, as if nothing had happened.

"Great, so, we don't have an exact date and time set yet, but once we do, we'll let the two of you know. I mean…obviously Annie will be the one we tell, since she's better about planning, but I wanted to ask you to make the salad. Speaking from experience, hers aren't anything special, and I know you'll nail it."

Jeff was speechless. He simply sat and watched Abed stand, and give a casual wave as he walked to the door and let himself out.

"What the hell was all that about?" Jeff couldn't help but wonder out loud.

_Friday night_

Annie was still in the bedroom. Jeff knew it didn't take her this long to change. He'd heard her talking, so he figured that she'd decided to seek consolation from others, or maybe they were calling her to get filled in on any details.

If he strained to listen, he could very faintly make out some of the words. He wasn't entirely sure, but he assumed she wasn't just sitting on the bed, from the rise and fall of her volume, and the fact that he knew from watching her in the past that she paced while she talked on the phone.

_"-ause, Britta…if I leave, then I have to admit that it's over."_

Jeff's lips pinched together almost involuntarily. Why did it have to be Britta she was talking to?

_"no, I don't WANT to be over. I keep hoping this is all just a bad dre-."_

He really didn't want to hear this. He was just glad he couldn't hear Britta's end of the conversation.

_"Yes, you'll be the first person I call if I need somewhere to stay."_

God. Why did it have to be Britta?

_Friday, 5:22 pm_

Jeff hadn't moved since Abed left, except to sit forward slightly to take a couple more shots. He had started feeling the alcohol, and wanted to build on the buzz. He wanted the feeling of warmth running through his body to just take him over, and carry him off to a sleep of the damned.

Of course, he was fully aware that he'd have a hell of a hangover tomorrow morning, and given his tolerance for alcohol, and the rate at which he was drinking, he'd have to step things up if he wanted to get drunk enough to pass out.

Plenty of time for that. For now, he just watched as some fluffy white clouds were slowly moving in on the blue sky. Dusk would be coming soon enough, and the clouds would catch the sun as it fell, and make amazing colors. It'd be nice to be good and sauced for that, but still conscious.

Jeff nearly jumped straight up as he heard his front door slam open, and boots stomping across the floor. Gizmo actually woke up from his nap (one of many that day) on the arm of the couch and arched his back, hissing and spitting at the source of the disruption.

Within seconds, Britta was standing in front of Jeff. Wearing a bright blue shirt, and white woolen cap, her cheery attire belied the furious look on her face.

"Hey, Grumpy Smurf…mine not scaring the crap out of my cat? He's not used to so much activity."

"As lazy as his owner, huh? Is he as big of an inconsiderate, selfish ass?"

Jeff winced at this barrage. "Geez, Britta…where's this anger coming from? I thought Duncan helped you get all your crap together first year? Wait…why would I think Duncan could help anyone get anything together?"

Britta's eyes narrowed. "Don't try your deflection crap with me. You know exactly where this is coming from!"

"Do I?"

"Do you really want me to make it absolutely, crystal-clear, pointy-face?" Britta snarled the last part out. Jeff couldn't help but turn up the snark for his response. "Oh, please Britta…dazzle me."

"You had the nerve to break up with Annie! The girl who carried a torch for you for how long, again? Want to answer me that one, jackass? Who put up with your crap through thick and thin, and basically carried you through every class you had with her! Who was always there to steer you to the right thing when you were being a total prick? How dare you hurt her like that!"

Jeff was taken aback. "Holy crap, Britta…I always knew you were all into defending the downtrodden and all that jazz, but when did you actually get eloquent?"

"Save it. You're not charming your way into my pants."

"Don't want in your pants." Jeff stated simply, standing, and shaking his head as he did so. "I'm just impressed that you haven't derailed into some sort of bad analogy or reference to something third-world or a psychological principle that you not only mangle the name, but also the meaning of."

Jeff actually flinched as Britta lunged at him, swinging her fists. Fortunately, he managed to reach out, and place a palm on her forehead just in time to repel her. His greater reach made her violence completely pointless.

"Enough! Britta, knock off the Abbott and Costello routine! You stop trying to hit me, and I'm taking another shot. I'm actually starting to feel less buzzed, which is the opposite of the direction I want to be going here."

Out of breath, Britta backed down.

"I can't believe you, you ass. You had better believe that you aren't welcome in the group anymore!" Britta shouted at him, tears starting to form in her eyes. "No one wants you around!"

"God…you ARE upset about this. But just so you know, Abed came by about an hour ago, and invited Annie and myself to a couples dinner…so your little expulsion isn't quite unanimous. "

Britta opened her mouth as if to start in on Jeff again. He guessed it would be something about how Abed didn't always have the best judgment or something…then cocked her head at a sound. She could just barely make out a faint noise that sounded like…

"Jeff! I hear crying…is Annie here right now? You insensitive prick! Annie, sweetie! It's ok! You can come out…come stay at my place tonight."

Jeff rubbed his eyes with one hand, pained expression on his face. "Britta…calm down. That isn't even coming from this apartment. Like I was saying, you don't have to worry about me thinking I'm still part of the group…I already filled out an emergency class withdrawal form. You won't see me at that campus anymore. I mean, I already graduated…I was just taking the class to be with you guys."

"Isn't coming from your apartment? Where's it coming from then? It sounds like it's just in the other room." Britta was completely bewildered by who could possibly be sobbing and where. She tried looking outside to see if there was someone on the fire escape or something, when Jeff jerked a thumb over his shoulder, towards the kitchen…and the shared wall with…

"Like I said, I filed an withdrawal form, and as soon as Pelton processes it-"

"I'M NOT EVER PROCESSING THAT!" Britta heard the sobbing momentarily cut out, and a throat-rending scream come from the apartment next door, and then return to bawling.

"Are the walls that thin here, Jeff?"

Jeff shook his head. "No…he's just very loud, and he either has super hearing, or he's planted bugs in my apartment, because you and I aren't exactly raising our voices."

"I'M JUST THAT IN TUNE WITH YOU!" the administrator's voice cut in again. Jeff looked at Britta and mouthed "bugs, has to be." He paused momentarily, hands held out as if for silence, and cocked his head to make it obvious that he was listening for further protests. When the dean didn't prove his level of Jeff-empathy by denying the comment that he had mouthed, Jeff started making a half-assed effort to look for listening devices, feeling under the edge of his coffee table, and picking things up off of it to check underneath them.

When he picked up the bottle of tequila, all of the sudden he seemed to remember his earlier goal, and raised it to Britta, as if offering. "Shot?"

"Hell with you, Winger." As she stalked out of the apartment, Jeff shrugged, and plopping down on the couch, raised the bottle straight to his lips.

_Friday night_

While Jeff was sitting on the couch, starting to wonder if the room was going to decide to spin or not, and Annie was sitting in the bedroom, trying to work up the nerve to go out and talk with her now-ex-boyfriend about how they would make things work until she could find a new place to live, five other people had gathered elsewhere, all of them concerned about their two friends, and how this would impact their dynamic as a whole.

"I just don't get it. Ay-bed, I thought you were supposed to be our predicting guy, what went wrong here? Why didn't you see it?"

"Pierce, I haven't had anything like that happen for a very long time…I'm too close to you all. I can't distance myself enough. Even during our first year, you guys only remember the things I got right, like you hurting your leg, and Jeff living out of his car. If you really look at things, Jeff and Annie's debate kiss could have been actually caused by my prediction…and Troy certainly didn't turn into a werewolf and attack Shirley."

"Thank the Good Lord for that one." Shirley deadpanned in her deep, take-no-prisoners tone.

"Anyway," Britta jumped into the conversation, "I kinda got up in his face earlier today. Let him know we weren't going to take any of his crap. Abed, what's this I hear about you inviting him and Annie to a couples dinner, just after he dumps her?"

Abed's face went blank, and he stared straight ahead, not responding to the question.

"So, wait…you two twigs went over there today too?" Shirley pointed at Britta and Abed. They both nodded in answer.

"Hmmm. I went over early this evening to try to talk some sense into Jeffrey myself. Even took some fresh brownies."

_Friday 6:13 pm_

Jeff was well on the way to being full-fledged, first-class ticket, bound for hangover station drunk. And he wasn't stopping yet. He had just raised another shot to his lips when he heard a polite rap on the front door. He quickly knocked back the small glass, and standing, wavered very slightly, and walked over to the door.

He could smell who it was before he even opened the door, and he was going to make sure to tell her so. He turned the handle and swung it open wide.

"Hel-lo!"

"I knew it was you." He said without any preamble. "I could smell you through the door."

Shirley's face scrunched up, and her voice got dark. "Excuse me, Jeffrey?"

"The brownies. They smell like they're still warm, too."

"Oh! Right. Yes. The brownies." Shirley quickly regained her poise, and looked expectantly up at Jeff, who was looking at her blankly.

"May I come in, Jeffrey?"

"Oh, sure! Step right this way." Jeff wobbled backwards and stepped clear of the door, using a grand motion to usher Shirley into the apartment. As she entered, her eyes lit on the bottle and glasses on the table.

"So, that's why you smell like a distillery. Who've you been drinking with?"

Jeff looked at Shirley as if her hair had turned to snakes. "Nobody, judgey face, why do you ask?"

"Because you've got three glasses on the table! Why would you need three glasses to drink alone?"

"Oh, them. Well, one of them is a shot glass. I needed that because it's a smaller type of glass for taking shots." Shirley just rolled her eyes at Jeff's simpleminded explanation.

"I know what a shot glass is, but then why do you have two tumblers?"

"Well, I had to get a clean one. The one I was using tasted like tequila."

"Aren't you drinking tequila?"

"Yes I am." Jeff nodded with finality, as if his explanation made all the sense in the world. Shirley just decided to give up, and go on with why she was there. "Anyway, Jeffrey…I understand you've been through some odd things today, so I brought over brownies."

Shirley reached down into the pan, and lifted one out, and handed it to Jeff on a napkin.

"Go on, have some" she said with a smile. Jeff's eyes shifted to the left and right with suspicion. "Something about this whole situation seems oddly familiar."

"Oh, just eat your brownie. I'm trying to cheer you up!"

As Jeff took his first bite, Shirley reached out and patted his knee. "There, there. Now…I'm sure you're going to feel all better now, so you can take back the hurtful things you said to Annie this morning."

"Wha?" Jeff managed to sputter out around a mouthful of chocolate baked treat. He swallowed hard, and continued. "Why would I do that?" Shirley's voice grew dark again. "Why would you do a stupid thing like break up with our adorable Annie in the first place, dummy?"

"Shirley…it was for the best. I'm not getting back together with Annie."

"Yes you are!"

"No, I'm not…did you come all this way just to try to bribe me with baked goods?" Shirley's eyes narrowed, and her mouth twisted into a snarl.

"Now you listen to me, and listen to me good, Jeff Winger. You are going to finish your brownie, and then you are going to call up Annie, and apologize, and beg her to forgive you. Is that understood?"

Jeff shook his head. "What? No! I'm not going to do that! Well…I'll finish the brownie. It's doing wonders for clearing my head. It's like a little alcohol sponge in my stomach."

Shirley snatched the brownie out of his hand. Jeff leaned back and pointed, "Now this definitely seems familiar. Is someone going to punch me in the nose?"

"Jeffrey, I want to know what it's going to take to get you to apologize to Annie, and to ask her to take you back?"

Jeff shook his head in disbelief, "Are we wheeling and dealing here? What's with the hard sell, Shirley? You were opposed to anything happening between Annie and me for the longest time, and now that I dump her, you insist we have to get back together?"

"It's true, I didn't want you two to get together. You and Britta were obnoxious, but…both white. And age appropriate." Jeff nodded, rolling his eyes. "Because those are the factors that love depends on, Shirley." She made swift eye contact, giving him a glare that told him, even in his tipsy state that this wasn't a time to mess with her. "But Annie had a thing for you for how many years? And you kept egging her on with your googly eyes and constant flirting…and then after you graduated, you declared your love for her, and you two became an official thing. And then the defiling and the living together started…and now you need to stay with her. It's not fair to her."

"Shirley, first of all…sex isn't defiling. We're both adults, and we did it because we liked each other. We're allowed to do that, you know?"

"You aren't married! That's defiling!"

"Look, whatever. Shirley, Annie and I aren't together anymore, and we aren't getting back together, no matter how many brownies you try to ply me with."

"Well then," Shirley snapped, grabbing the pan of brownies. "I won't bother trying to ply you with anything."

Shirley stood up and walked to the door, opening it and turning one last time back towards Jeff. "Jeff, I just want you to give this some serious thought. Deal?"

Jeff nodded. "Deal. I'll think about it a ton. I promise."

Shirley shook her head at his sarcasm, and slammed the door behind her. Jeff turned back to his coffee table, addressing the bottle and glasses in front of him.

"Now, where were we?"

_Friday night_

"So, the brownie plan obviously didn't work, since Brittles was on the phone with Annie 10 minutes ago trying to get her to stay with her."

"No…I got the feeling that he wasn't listening to a thing I was saying. Of course, he was liquored up enough that he ate a brownie without a single bit of whining about carbs."

Britta rolled her eyes, and jumped in. "Guys…Jeff eats carbs all the time. He's just wild about his fitness. Don't you remember him and Leonard always fighting over macaroni-and-cheese our first year? Do you think that's pure protein or something?"

Troy shook his head, "Britta, that's hardly the point here. The point is that Jeff dumped Annie, and won't tell anyone why, and won't get back together with her no matter what we try." Troy started to sniffle, "No! I have to be strong! I promised myself I wouldn't do this again after earlier when I saw him!"

They all turned and looked at him with quizzical expressions on their faces as Troy started sobbing.

_Friday 6:47 pm_

Another knock on the door. Jeff did a quick mental inventory, and realized it could only be one of two people. Since he'd heard the loud crying getting louder, reaching its apex just as the knock came, he already knew who it was.

As the door opened, and he saw the sorrowful face of Troy, Jeff automatically stepped aside to let him in, muttering "Why bother trying to keep anyone out? It's like the Christmas ghosts, and I'm Scrooge…they're coming whether I want them to or not."

No sooner had Jeff closed the door after Troy had crossed the threshold when he turned to find Troy holding him tightly, and weeping.

"Uhhhh, hey Troy. What's up?"

"Why'd you have to do it, Jeff? It just hurts so much!"

"Troy…I didn't break up with you. I broke up with Annie." Jeff led Troy over to the couch that thus far, had been host to three other members of the study group that day. True, Britta had only stood in front of it, not sat…but still.

"Jeff," Troy gulped, blinking back tears, "I came over right after I got done making air conditioners work right. This is very important to me. I'm just so sad! You and Annie were so perfect together. Why can't you still be together? Weren't you happy with her?"

Jeff closed his eyes, silently counting to ten. Troy was the first visitor he'd had who was concerned about him as well as Annie. Given the day he'd had, it meant a lot to him, but was still driving him nuts.

"Troy," Jeff stopped for a moment and gritted his teeth, "Annie and I just couldn't be together anymore. It was the only option. It had to happen this way, and I'm very, very sorry that it's affecting you like this…but it shouldn't. You're a grown man…sort of, and I mean, seriously? You broke up with Britta!"

Troy tried to compose himself, to a limited degree of success. "That was different, Jeff. Britta and I had fun, but it wasn't a grown-up relationship. It was just two friends who tried something more than realized they were better as friends for now. You and Annie were the real deal."

"How can you say that? You weren't a part of this relationship! You don't know what was and wasn't the real deal, Troy! What is so important about my being with Annie that's making you so emotional?"

"A man can be in touch with his emotions!" Troy shouted mechanically, almost as if he'd memorized the phrase for such occasions. Given how easily he got emotional, this was entirely possible. Jeff nodded to placate him. "Sure, buddy…a man can be in touch with his emotions. But Annie and me…it doesn't involve anyone else. It shouldn't bug you."

"But Jeff…you guys made each other the best person you could each be. When we all met, you were a pompous, self-centered jerk…and Annie helped you care about others, and accept them. And Annie was an obnoxious, self-centered nuisance, and you helped her loosen up, and realize that people care about her. Everyone else in the group is bonded to both of you too, but you guys had something special and…beauti-"

Without being able to finish, Troy pressed the back of his hand to his mouth to stifle a sob, stood and ran out of the apartment. Jeff stared at the closed door for a handful of seconds, and then looked at the glass of tequila he was holding. He contemplated the glass for a moment, then set it down, sinking back into the couch.

_Friday night_

The five of them were huddled around Pierce's phone. Normally, it was iffy as to whether any of them would answer his calls, but he had the best speaker phone out of all of them, so they risked it.

Fortunately, Annie answered. They'd been chatting with her about how to handle the rest of the evening.

"_I'm going to go out and talk to him in just a minute. I've got myself gathered together, and I'm going to stay here at least tonight. Maybe a few nights while I look for a new place. Troy? Abed? I don't suppose you guys might want me to come live with you two again?"_

Troy started to brighten up at that suggestion, remembering the good times they had when Annie had been their roommate. Suddenly Abed broke in, "No!" Troy looked crestfallen.

"Abed, why can't Annie move back in with us?"

Abed looked around the table, making eye contact with each of them. There was something in his gaze…it reminded them of the period at the end of their third year when they had been briefly expelled. "Annie…you not only can't move in with us, but you need to stay living there for as long as Jeff will let you. Do you understand me?"

Abed held up a hand to stifle the chorus of exasperated questions coming from around the rest of the table long enough to let Annie's voice come through the speaker.

"_I guess so, Abed…it might be a bit weird, but why?"_

"Because, Annie…something isn't right here. And if you move out before we figure it out, it could be disastrous. I don't know what's going on, but we could even end up losing Jeff forever. Just stay there, and go about your normal post-Jeff life, ok?"

_"Sure…anyway, I guess I'll go talk to him now. If I get any new information, I'll call or text one of you."_

There was a chorus of goodbyes, but Pierce shouted "Annie, hang on a sec! I need to talk to you alone real quick."

The older man picked up his phone, and thumbed off the speaker function, and holding it up to his ear, walked away. The group quietly sat in silence, trying to overhear what Pierce might be saying, but all they got was the tail end of the conversation as he walked back to the table. "And just remember…you're still my favorite. Take care, Annie."

Pierce sat back down, and looked around expectantly. Britta's eyes were about to bulge out of her head before she sputtered "What the hell was that all about?"

"It's not important, Brittles. Anyway…what are we up to tonight, now that we've got the drama all behind us for now?"

Shirley cocked an eyebrow at Pierce, "Hey, old man…did you go pay a visit to Jeff today like the rest of us did?"

Pierce just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. Waste my time with Winger? I've always thought he didn't deserve Annie. You guys know that."

"Whatever…so I guess it was just the four of us then."

_Friday, 7:00 pm_

A knock. Jeff was getting tired of this, but he figured that at least, this had to be the last one. He didn't bother getting off the couch.

"It's open, Pierce!"

As the door opened, and the older man walked in, closing the door behind him as he walked over to the couch area, he had to ask "How the hell did you know it was me? Do you have a new security system installed? I haven't pushed mine to market yet, but when I do, you'll want to replace yours with it."

"Pierce, I have no desire to use your racist security system…"

"Whatever, Winger. That's not why I'm here."

Jeff was as tired of the topic as he was knocks on his door, but again reminded himself that this should be pretty much the end of the ordeal. "You want to know why I broke up with Annie."

"You could have said that without all the sarcasm, Jeff."

Jeff decided to dial it up instead. "Actually, turns out I couldn't have! How about that?"

He knew he was pushing Pierce's buttons, but given all of the time the two had spent discussing matters recently, he wanted to be talking to Pierce even less than he had wanted to talk to Britta.

"Jeffrey…I'm going to get straight to the point. What the hell happened?"

"Well, Piercinald, I had to break things off with Annie. Given the four other people who've already come by to harass me about it, I figured you'd have gotten that already."

"Actually, Jeff, I haven't talked to any of them since class today. I've been busy, but since you and I have been talking about your future with Annie, and you've been asking my advice, I thought I'd come over, have a calm sit-down, and ask you why you suddenly decided to spit in the face of everything I'd said to you, which previously, you seemed to agree with."

Jeff mumbled something that Pierce couldn't make out.

"What's that, Jeffrey? I didn't catch that. Perhaps you'd like to go sit at the children's table with the rest of the immature boys. I had thought you were a man."

Jeff glared at Pierce with intensity. Pierce didn't read hatred in his eyes though…or if there was, it was directed elsewhere, not at him, for once.

"I said, you crazy, deaf old man, that I didn't disagree with you, and I'm not spitting in anyone's face. This was just what was best for us."

"Ha!" Pierce scoffed. "Annie's been crying every time I've seen her today. I really doubt you had what was best for her on your mind when you did this. In fact…I think you've been lying about the whole thing. You never intended to go through with things…you just wanted to get yourself a hot young girlfriend, and then cut her loose when you got bored, didn't you? You were lying the whole time!"

Jeff's eyes blazed even more now, and this time, Pierce actually felt like it was directed at him, at least in part.

Then Jeff did something crazy. He pulled a cushion off of his couch, and tipped it on its front. He manipulated the zipper on the back of it, reached in, and withdrew an object. He tossed it to Pierce.

"There. That look to you like I was lying?"

Pierce looked down at the small, black velvet box. "Jeff…did you really?"

"Go ahead, open it."

Pierce opened the box, and his suspicions were confirmed by the sight of a ring inside. "It's beautiful, Jeffrey…she would have loved it. Why did you chicken out?"

"Like I said, Pierce…it was for the best. Now give me my ring back, and don't breathe a word of this to anyone."

"Of course not…it'd just hurt Annie even more if she found out. And while I'm still furious at you, I don't want to hurt her more than she already is."

"You know…you actually make a scary amount of sense at times, Pierce."

The older man just nodded, and handed the small box back to Jeff. "I hope that you'll still give that to her someday, Jeff. You two remind me of-" Jeff cut him off mid sentence, _ "_I swear, Pierce…if you compare us to you and any one of your ex-wives…"

"Of course not, Jeffrey…but never mind. You clearly aren't all that interested in what I have to say."

Jeff didn't answer. He just sat there, glaring off into the distance, clutching the small box in a death grip, knuckles white with the pressure.

"Whatever, Jeff. It is what it is."

With that, Pierce stood, and left the apartment. Jeff continued his sulk for a few more moments, and then letting off a yell of pure pain as he stood, he threw the ring box across the apartment, impacting the far wall. Jeff heard the ring come clattering out, and both it and the box come to rest on the floor.

He stood there silently for a few more moments, and then went to collect the results of his fit of rage, muttering as he did so. "Yeah…at least I didn't throw it off the balcony. That'd be an expensive revenge on absolutely no one…"

Rubbing his thumb over the new dent in the corner of the box, he walked back over to the couch, stuffing it back in its hiding place, and resuming his silent vigil.

_Friday night_

Annie emerged from the bedroom, and walked over to the center of the living room where Jeff sat.

"Hey."

He looked up at her, giving a weak smile, "Hey yourself."

"So, you ready to talk?" He nodded faintly, "Guess so. Gotta happen eventually, right?"

"Jeff, I should be upfront with you. I've been on the phone with the rest of the group tonight, and I'm sure you know they're all aware that we split up."

"Annie…I got a visit from each one of them individually today. So, yeah…I knew they knew."

"Yeah, about that…Pierce says that I'm supposed to take it easy on you. Gotta say, it was really weird to hear him say that about you." Annie's face was scrunched up in confusion. Jeff chuckled lightly, which made Annie visibly relax. It was good to see Jeff expressing something positive after the events of the day.

"I'm sure you've seen that Pierce and I have been getting awkwardly close these last few months, Annie. It just makes sense…we both care about you, so we've put aside a few of our differences."

"So, you care about me Jeff, but you broke up with me like I was nothing. So what are we now?" there was an obvious quaver in Annie's voice. Jeff stared off into the distance for a moment before looking up to answer her. "Roommates? Friends? I mean…we'll always be friends, right Annie?"

Annie nodded. "Well, Jeff…can I ask you something as a friend?"

Jeff relaxed…this was sounding like safe, familiar territory. "Of course you can, Annie."

"Can friends who used to date still hug? Cause I could really use one right now."

Jeff patted the cushion to the side of him. "Of course they can. C'mon, sit down."

Annie sat down beside him, and wrapped her arms around his midsection while he put his around her shoulders. It was a position similar to the one they'd spent many nights in during their time dating, but now, it was just…_different_. Annie rested her head against his chest, and allowed her eyes to unfocus. For a moment, everything blurred, but then her eyes automatically focused on the reflections of herself and Jeff in the window. She couldn't take her eyes off of him, and from what she could tell, his eyes were closed tightly. He smelled of tequila, but was taking care to breathe away from her, so he didn't overwhelm her with the fumes. He must remember how much she hated the smell.

They sat that way for a few moments, then Annie saw Jeff's lips move. She tried reading his lips, and what she thought he was saying made her blood run cold.

"Jeff, what did you just say?!"

"Hmmm? Oh, I'm sorry…I was just reminding myself that I needed some olive oil for dinner tomorrow. I know we aren't together anymore, so this isn't a date or anything…but want to join me?"

Annie's brow furrowed…he could have been saying olive oil. It wasn't what she had thought it was, but it matched up with his lips. "Sure, Jeff…sounds good."

They held each other for a few more moments in silence before Annie broke it with the question that had been bothering her all day. "So, Jeff, can you just tell me why?"

Jeff didn't open his eyes when he answered. "Ask me again someday." He didn't add the disclaimer that Annie suspected he intended, _Ask me when you've found someone else and moved on from me._

Annie snuggled in, noticing that Jeff's breathing had grown steady. Wanting one last night with him, she dragged a blanket over them, and closed her eyes, willing for everything that had transpired since the group meeting earlier that day to have been just a dream.

She fell asleep repeating that wish in her head. As she drifted off, she didn't notice the rain giving way to big, fluffy flakes falling from the sky, heralding the first snow storm of the season.

_Friday, 12:10 pm. Study Group Meeting Time_

"Hey Jeff!"

Jeff cringed at the sound of Annie's voice behind him. He didn't turn to face her, even when she threw her arms around him from behind, and nuzzled into his neck. He immediately stiffened, and she, seeming to sense his increased tension, backed off slightly.

"Oops, sorry…forgot everyone gives us crap if we over-PDA. It's just that no one else is here yet, and I guess I'm just feeling extra-affectionate right now…I ran into that creepy former colleague of yours, Alan. He asked for my number."

Jeff pressed his lips together into a thin line for a moment before responding.

"Yeah? Well, you ought to give it to him."

Annie kept her arms around him, but pulled back as far as her reach would allow, shocked a bit by the hard tone in Jeff's voice as much as his words.

"Wait…why would I do that, Jeff? I told him I was seeing you, and he said he heard we had broken up. Where do you think he would have heard something crazy like that?" There was a forced tone of joviality in her voice…worry underlying it. Jeff's strange behavior was starting to affect her.

Jeff closed his eyes, and tilted his head even further away from Annie's and down…preparing to bite the bullet. He hadn't turned to look at her this whole time, and had hoped it might make the whole thing easier, but it wasn't.

"I told him that. That's where."

Annie gave an even more forced chuckle. "Why would you tell him that? Were you trying to be funny?"

Jeff stood up, breaking free of her arms, and still never turning to look at her, began to walk out of the room.

"I said it because it was true. We're through, Annie."

Annie just stood there, mouth dropped open.

_Friday, just prior to Study Group_

"Winger!"

Jeff turned, slightly hesitant, at the sound of the familiar voice.

"Alan. I'd say it's good to see you, but…"

Alan feigned a wounded look. "What? Not still hurt about getting locked out of coming back to us, are you?"

Jeff gave Alan a withering glare, "Y'know, I've pretty much gotten over it, but maybe it still pisses me off a little, yeah."

"Good. Cause you pissed me off too." Alan's face twisted into a smirk. "You always had it so easy…fake degree, good talker, charming with the women. Speaking of…I hear you've got yourself a tasty little treat now."

"Don't call her that, Alan. She's a strong, intelligent woman."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…I know. I also know you're head over heels for her."

Jeff didn't respond while Alan paused, just staring at him for a minute. Jeff's heart started thudding in his chest…he had the uneasy sensation that something terrible was about to happen.

"Break up with her."

Jeff was incredulous. "Ohhhh…sure thing! Hey, I've been meaning to ask. How has your time as Mayor of Not-Going-to-Happen-Town been treating you?"

"Oh, you're going to do it…or she'll have to pay for it." Alan had turned completely matter-of-fact at this point.

"Pay for it? Seriously, Alan…you sound like Dr. Evil." Jeff scoffed.

"Let me put it this way, Wingbasket…your little girlfriend is applying to some pretty competitive graduate programs, isn't she?" Jeff's eyes widened…this was starting to get into some potentially dangerous territory. His mouth suddenly dry, he just nodded slightly.

"Yeahhhhh. That's what I thought. Now, it would certainly be a shame if these notes," Alan pulled a file of papers from his briefcase, "got into the hands of the admissions people at those schools. I mean, we've got doctor's letters certifying that she's relapsed into narcotics addiction again, stating that she's unstable, and that under a great deal of pressure…like, say, a competitive graduate program, she might be a danger to herself and others."

Jeff's eye's narrowed. "And you think any of those will hold up under scrutiny?" Alan smiled, an unpleasant, nearly grotesque image…the smile of someone who knew he held all the cards. He brought his face close enough to Jeff's that he could smell the cinnamon gum on his breath. "That's the thing, Winger…you ought to know better than anyone. They don't have to."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, come on…how long did you get by with a fake bachelors? As soon as these get into the hands of the admissions committees, they'll just knock her right off the list of potential candidates. They've got hundreds, if not thousands to reject…this will just make their job that much easier. They don't even need to double-check the veracity."

Jeff swallowed, closing his eyes against the sudden headache thundering in his skull. He was desperately trying to conceive of a way to get out of this.

"Now, as I said before, hot wings…dump her. And Jeff? Make it hurt."

"What the hell did she do to you, Alan?" Jeff snapped at his former co-worker. Alan just shrugged. "Nothing. This is all about you and me. She's collateral damage. In fact, I picked this particular form of revenge because I knew that you hurting her would hurt you more than anything else! Double the fun for me!"

"And what makes you think that I'll go through with it? Don't you think I'll just lie, and say 'Sure thing, Alan…I'll dump the girl I'm in love with, and make her cry so you don't ruin her future,' and then…just not do it?"

Alan smirked again…Jeff was getting very tired of that look on his face. He was tempted to take a poke at him…but Jeff still wasn't much of a fighter, and despite the anger flowing through him, his rationality told him that if he did…Alan wouldn't hesitate to screw over Annie.

"Jeff…you know, I'm perfectly well aware of the fact that I'm the bad guy here. I'm doing the whole monologue, telling the hero about his dastardly plans thing. But, unlike movie villains, I'm not going to just tell you my plans, and then leave you with a way out." Alan reached into his pocket, and pulled out what looked to be a small black circle.

"See this? $50 at Radio Shack. Now, I just tape it under here," Alan reached under the study table, directly under where Jeff was sitting, between Troy and Abed's spots. "and I can hear everything" Alan now pointed at his ear, where Jeff saw a tiny bud, much like a hearing aid, "that happens. Also…you see that inconspicuous guy out in the hall? The one with the goatee and the red hoodie that looks like he's studying? That's one of my law clerks. He wants a good letter of recommendation from me, so he's going to be watching you, and making sure you don't do anything dumb, like shake your head while you're breaking up with your princess, or anything else that might indicate that you're not playing it straight while you rip her heart out."

"And what makes you think that I won't just tell her the truth the moment we're somewhere you don't have visibility, Alan?" Jeff decided he was tired of being on the defensive, and turned to attack. Alan gave him a pitying look. "Really? You think I'm dumb enough to have not considered that? Tell me, Jeff…how well does your little snack bite like it when you protect her, and make her feel like she's being treated like the child in the relationship? Won't she just love it when you tell her later on that you didn't really mean to be so awful to her, but you were doing it for her own good? I'm betting she'll just jump right back in your arms, won't she?"

Jeff gaped at Alan…how did he understand the odd quirks of his relationship with Annie so well? His former colleague gave him a patronizing smile, and continued with his spiel.

"Besides, if I even get a single hint, verified or not, that you go back on this…I send the emails. I won't even double-check…I've already got them drafted and the files attached, I just have to hit send. So feel free to test me on this, Winger."

Jeff's mouth went dry. "Well, Alan…you certainly seem to have all your bases covered, don't you?"

Alan chuckled, a dark tone to his laugh. "I certainly do…now, are you going to do it?"

"I don't seem to have much choice, do I?"

Alan shook his head, "No, wingnut…you don't. Now, your group of dorks is scheduled to meet up at any minute, so I'm going to depart…and I'll see you on the other side, Jeff."

With that, Alan clapped Jeff on the back, and departed through the door he was facing away from. As Alan departed, Jeff heard him speaking to someone in a tone that thoroughly creeped him out, but the response was what made Jeff's blood run cold.

"Hey there, sweet thing."

Jeff couldn't make out Annie's response, but he knew it was her. He couldn't make out the rest of the exchange, but he could tell it ended soon enough, and he could practically feel her draw closer as she entered the room.

He held his position, tensing against the upcoming confrontation.

"Hey Jeff!"

Jeff cringed at the sound of Annie's voice behind him.

* * *

A/N: Just a couple of things to address here.

My wife, along with with others, have pointed out that I try super hard to be more clever and subtle than I should be, and as she puts it "I suck at it." Other people are nicer. This chapter was an exploration of the Kubler-Ross scale of the five stages of grief. When I concieved of this chapter...I realized that if you take the major players (Jeff and Annie) out...that left you with five. Then when I was seeing who could represent which, I realized that the way I've been writing these characters (especially Pierce as a wanna-be father figure, instead of a villain,) it was a shockingly good fit. The breakdown ended up being, Abed: Denial, Britta: Anger, Shirley: Bargaining, Troy: Depression, Pierce: Acceptance.

No, I don't really think Jeff hates tequila. In fact, I'm not 100% on this, but I'm pretty sure it's what he and Annie were drinking in the 3rd season episode where they get kicked out. Still...I needed an alcohol that he could hate, and *I* hate tequila, so there it is.

For those curious, since I really don't think I'm spoiling anything, since this story should make it obvious that Jeff didn't dump Annie because of his feelings had changed towards her...the words "olive oil," when mouthed, look exactly like "I love you." Of course, Jeff wasn't saying olive oil. But, if you ever want to freak out your coworker, mouth the words 'olive oil' to them. Bonus points if you lasciviously lick your lips while you do it. And then, when they threaten a lawsuit, tell them you were just thinking about something to dip bread in, along with balsamic vinegar.

I hated writing Troy here. I don't think he felt right...but when I was assigning parts, I thought he obviously fit one of the five spots I had available. I don't think I did him justice here though. My bad.

So...now we have what is probably going to be one of the major arcs of this story well established...there were hints earlier, but here it is. How will it resolve? Why am I asking rhetorical questions when I already know, and you probably do too? Because I'm bad at writing endings sometimes...even to author's notes.

Hit me up on my tumblr if you ever want to ask anything, or just to shoot the breeze. I'm on there an obnoxious amount.


End file.
